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Grading in
civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
and landscape architectural construction is the work of ensuring a level base, or one with a specified
slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is used ...
, for a construction work such as a
foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
, the
base course The base course or basecourse in pavements is a layer of material in an asphalt roadway, race track, riding arena, or sporting field. It is located under the surface layer consisting of the ''wearing course'' and sometimes an extra ''binder co ...
for a
road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...
or a
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
, or
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
and
garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...
improvements, or surface drainage. The earthworks created for such a purpose are often called the sub-grade or finished contouring (see diagram).


Regrading

Regrading is the process of grading for raising and/or lowering the levels of land. Such a project can also be referred to as a regrade. Regrading may be done on a small scale (as in preparation of a house site)Trees and Home Construction: Minimizing the impact of construction activity on trees
University of Ohio Extension Bulletin 870-99. Accessed online 16 October 2007.
or on quite a large scale (as in major reconfiguration of the terrain of a city, such as the Denny Regrade in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
). Regrading is typically performed to make land more level (flatter), in which case it is sometimes called levelling.) Levelling can have the consequence of making other nearby slopes steeper, and potentially unstable or prone to erosion.


Transportation

In the case of
gravel road A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the Unit ...
s and earthworks for certain purposes, grading forms not just the base but the cover and surface of the finished construction, and is often called finished grade.


Process

It is often done using heavy machinery like
bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...
s and
excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fr ...
s to roughly prepare an area and then using a
grader A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, motor grader, or simply a blade, is a form of heavy equipment with a long blade used to create a flat surface during grading. Although the earliest models were towed behind horses, and lat ...
for a finer finish.


Environmental design

In the
environmental design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...
professions, grading and regrading are a specifications and construction component in
landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...
,
landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...
, and
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
projects. It is used for buildings or outdoor amenities regarding foundations and footings,
slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is used ...
terracing and stabilizing, aesthetic contouring, and directing
surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...
drainage of
stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation ( storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...
and domestic/irrigation runoff flows.


Purposes

Reasons for regrading include: * Enabling construction on lands that were previously too varied and/or steeply sloped. * Enabling transportation along routes that were previously too varied and/or steep. * Changing drainage patterns and rerouting surface flow. * Improving the stability of terrain adjacent to developments.


Consequences

Potential problems and consequences from regrading include: * Soil and/or
slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is used ...
instability * Terrain prone to
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is di ...
*
Ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps w ...
impacts,
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
destruction, terrestrial and/or aquatic biological losses. * Drainage problems (surface and/or subsurface flow) for areas not considered in the regrading plan.Barry Stone
Adjacent Property Regrading Creates Drainage Problem for Homeowner
doityourself.com. Accessed online 16 October 2007.
* Loss of aesthetic
natural landscape A natural landscape is the original landscape that exists before it is acted upon by human culture. The natural landscape and the cultural landscape are separate parts of the landscape. However, in the 21st century, landscapes that are totally ...
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
and/or historical
cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent th ...
s.


See also

*
Cut (earthmoving) In civil engineering, a cut or cutting is where soil or rock from a relative rise along a route is removed. The term is also used in river management to speed a waterway's flow by short-cutting a meander. Cuts are typically used in road, rai ...
*
Cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...
*
Cut and fill In earthmoving, cut and fill is the process of constructing a railway, road or canal whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments to minimize the amount of construction labor ...
*
Fill dirt Fill dirt (also called cleanfill, or just fill) is earthy material which is used to ''fill in'' a depression or hole in the ground or create mounds or otherwise artificially change the grade or elevation of real property.Grade (slope) The grade (also called slope, incline, gradient, mainfall, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a special case of the slope, where zero in ...
(civil engineering and geographical term) * Regrading *
Slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is used ...
(mathematical term) *
Subgrade In transport engineering, subgrade is the native material underneath a constructed road,http://www.highwaysmaintenance.com/drainage.htm The Idiots' Guide to Highways Maintenance ''highwaysmaintenence.com'' pavement or railway track (US: railro ...
*
Trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from e ...


References


External links

* Matusik, John
"Grading and Earthworks"
in ''The Land Development Handbook'', 2004.
''Gravel Roads Construction and Maintenance Guide''
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the South Dakota Local Technical Assistance Program (SDLTAP), 2015.
"How to Grade Gravel Roads"
in ''Gravel Roads, Soil Stabilization, Soil-Sement®'' by Frank Elswick, 2017.
''Recommended Practices Manual: A Guideline for Maintenance and Service of Unpaved Roads''
Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow Rivers Watershed Management Authority, 2000. {{Authority control Construction Artificial landforms Gardening aids Landscape architecture Road construction