JimK wrote:
Next spring I'm going to have to revisit the access track/bridleway
which is deteriorating again despite regular topping up with MOT.

So thinking of casting in situ two 18 inch wide concrete "tank tracks"
for 150m!

Challenges will include:

1 keeping costs down.. mixing own concrete, doing a "section" at a
time.... or sod it and try and do 4m3 runs at once with small ready
mix trucks?

2 Keeping access open (incl vehicles) during concrete cure stages:-
Road forms or equivalent pegged for sides and a (possibly bolted down)
steel plate top for wheeled traffic whilst initial curing takes place
- how thick a plate? thinner is cheaper and easier, but at what
thinness will it bend/buckle and backfire??

3 Shaping the concrete to avoid sharp corner edges (horses etc) -
perhaps some sort of curved top (in section) road forms, or similar or
fabricate something to do the job... or will I be able to simply knock
the sharp edges off with a big hammer after a few days curing when
"mould" removed?

4 Do i need reinforcement? plan on 4inch average concrete depth for
cars, tranny vans, small oil tankers.

5 Any way I could easily replicate (or just give a passing impression
of) stone flags as I cast it? (other parts of the track have these
still in situ - it would be "nice" to give a nod to the vernacular..)

what does the group think? do-able? what've I
forgotten/underestimated/ failed to appreciate etc--- you get the
picture - Help!!

Cheers
JimK

You could dig out one track the full length of the pathway (assuming you
are using a digger?) in the AM, get 7.5m3 of readymixed poured in the
afternoon and cast the whole track in one pour, preferably at dusk (is it
used at night at all?) it'll be cured enough to drive over within 24 hours.
If the path belongs to you, you can close it off completely, but this means
the postman, milkman etc would have to leave your deliveries somewhere else

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008