Road Construction with Geotube

Engineers already know geotubes for many construction needs, including geotube road construction. Access roads are increasingly important as development grows. Road construction is generally straightforward when the foundation soil and surroundings are suitable. Roads are difficult to build when the area is flooded with water. This is common when access roads must be built in areas affected by the water table, which can change with the seasons, the weather and even the tides.

Areas affected by water can become access roads with the help of geotubes, a geosynthetic product that can also be used as a breakwater system. Below is a simple design for road construction using geotubes:

Installing Geotubes for Roads

This material is used to suit the desired road embankment height, which must be higher than the water level. At the base of the road, woven geotextile with specifications similar to this material can be laid. Geotubes sit on top of the woven geotextile on the left and right sides as the road shoulders and are stacked to reach the required height. They can be filled with sand to provide weight and create a retaining structure. The area between the geotubes can be filled with embankment fill for the road. Make sure the road surface has a crossfall of 2% – 4% so that surface water drains to the sides and does not collect in the geotube road embankment.

Using geotubes makes construction much faster because no concrete structures are required. Concrete is not effective in waterlogged areas because it still needs dry conditions to harden. Geotubes also help the road embankment by adding friction as reinforcement, similar to geotextile.

When using geotubes for road construction, the specification must be determined to avoid damage to the geotube and going over budget. Geotubes for road construction can use CT-90 material or higher. Below are the CT-90 specifications: