Slope Staking

It has been awhile, but depending on the curvature of the line you are staking out, TDS does, or at least didn't, like slope staking in curves. I had to stake using points in pairs. For example if I was slope staking a road and it had a curve, I would build the road alignment based on the points with elevations, then when I got into curves I would have to use the two points at a time function to get the stakes to make sense. In straightaways, you shouldn't have any issues. But in curves I had to isolate the relative points so the solution would work out. I would stake out he catch point and then write the cut/fill to the shoulder with slope, starting at the crows foot at the bottom of the stake. Basically from the ground.

Hopefully these are readable. This is the local highway dept. format.

Fill:

Cut:

Daylight:

I have putting a 1x1 hub for the point and the stakes behind it, when the stakes get knocked out often the hub is still there.

In these parts, only the highway department marks slope stakes that way. Private surveyors typically write down the length of the lath and use notation C-1.1 @ 10' // F=14.3 @ 2:1 TO ELEV. 251.8. The symbol // means "then." You can use multiple //'s for additional slope changes if necessary. I also usually mark the top front of the lath with horizontal notation "10" with "toe slope" below it. Techinically it's redundant. Some people use "C.P." for "catch point" and that's actually the more modern and correct way to do it. I like old school terms like toe and top.

Elevation, station (if being used) and point number on the back of the lath.

Don't forget to put a line only stake behind the offset stake to the grade checker pulls in the righ direction.

In these parts, only the highway department marks slope stakes that way

Yeah, I know what you mean; it's just that the DOT has contractors trained a certain way and it's easier to follow along with a format they are used to.

We do a bunch of rural roads and the stakes get simpler for those. For ponds and reservoirs it's a fill/cut, slope and distance.

> The symbol // means "then."

I have been writing the // for many years and have never heard it defined like that.

Amazing to still be learning something new :good:

i figure where the back of the ditch will be based off the plans for the slope i.e. 3:1 etc. then figure how far i am from the cl and write the cut/fill and the offset to each cp, use a hub and tack to establish the b.o.d. point. since the back of ditch is the last cut usually they remain till the end of project.

we set the hub + lath at an offset to the catch point, usually 10', so the stake is out of the grading area.

Here is how I do it , figure your hinge point before you go to the field . This is usually a mathmatical point that can be calculated off the profile and cl , for each station. Then in the field go to stake point most data collectors point stake will give you a horizontal distance to your design point and at the same time give you cut or fill . So when your cut matches your distance , drive hub . Example if i am 6 feet away from my design point and it says cut 2 foot and my slope is 3 :1 , your good . I have done 1000's feet a day this way. The only thing is staying 90 to your cl . Do not need know slope stake routine.

I stake the catch with something simple like C 4.0 @ 8.0/ 2:1 / Ditch . Then we'll poke a hub behind it five feet or so with the writing RP 5 and a cut or fill to the first hinge in the cross section and maybe a cut/fill to centerline subgrade. I put a hub elevation on the offset stake.

If it's a complicated section, sometimes I'll put some of the hinge points on there, but usually that just causes confusion. I've been on an FHWA job where they required every break in the section written on the stake. It just made people less apt to become familiar with the plans and sections (not to mention increased our own odds of transposition or math errors) and caused more harm than help.

The most important thing is that the road builders you're working with know how to read them and what they mean.

Looks pretty darn correct to me! We would often not only put stakes at the catch point, but also set a 10 offset to it with the cuts/fills at the offset hub being referenced to the actual hub at the catch point. And the info on the stake was to the hub, but the hub was always driven pretty close to the ground level or there would be no point.

We did severla miles of this years ago and I had a little program I wrote for the HP-41 that would give you your info for the stake when you input the slope in and out and some other things. It was very handy and I think I still have it written down here somewhere.

:good: I do it the same way. On a site we use the line work to stake a contour at the toe or top of a slope and you can see you are 90 from the origin point right on the screen along with cut/fill and the distance. Crows foot or hub driven to grade C 10'//2:1//21' TO TOE. Nice and simple. In a pond we will find a catch point if it hits in the slope. In a 20' slope it might go as follows: cut side of lath: C12'//2:1//24'TO TOE; other side of lath facing the top of pond F8'//2:1//16'TO TOP OF SLOPE. If you have a cut slope with cut to the top of the slope before the over burden is pulled off it you could stake a line or point for the toe and back it up til it catches on the slope then on the back of the lath show the verticai cut and if the slope is built out they take out the "wedge" created and the top of the slope ends up in the correct spot.

> The most important thing is that the road builders you're working with know how to read them and what they mean.

:good: