Evaluation of Box Culvert Maintenance Methods

Traditional methods, such as using a vactor truck, for clearing culverts greater than 48 inches of debris and accumulated sediment may be inefficient and costly. A survey of states outside of Ohio has shown several regularly use remote controlled equipment for cleaning large culverts. A MicroTraxx MT 3234 was purchased from Rohmac, Inc. and evaluated on culverts in Ohio over the months of July and August of 2014. Performance statistics show that the MicroTraxx unit cleared culverts as fast as traditional methods using half as many man-hours. An analysis of the Ohio culvert database shows that close to 8,600 culverts across the state can be accessed by the MicroTraxx MT 3234 unit and could provide Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) cost savings in the future if the MicroTraxx were deployed for this purpose.