Culverts serve an important role in keeping water off a roadway and are often buried under or alongside a road.
A variety of considerations go into designing the right culvert for its location and role in the broader transportation system.
In Iowa, culverts are typically buried 5 to 10 feet under roadways. Some road projects, however, require burying culverts 20 to 35 feet beneath the surface to divert water.
As soil characteristics and properties vary significantly across the state, the amount of weight of that a culvert must be able to support also varies.
To better understand the complexities in determining earth pressure on a culvert, the Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB) conducted a research project to monitor two newly constructed culverts over several seasons.
The results will help engineers across the state continue to design culverts that perform well for years to come.
Learn more about this project in Iowa DOT’s new research brief, and check out other Iowa DOT research efforts on the News & Publications page.
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