Erosion Control at the Transportation Institute

I went on a field trip recently to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) with the sixth graders that I tutor. I honestly thought it was going to be the most boring field trip ever, but it was actually really cool! We got to watch videos of crash testing, the kids got to use a distracted driving simulator, and we learned how the stoplight systems work. You may be wondering why we’re talking about roads and transportation on a blog devoted to agriculture. We talk a lot on this blog about environmental friendliness and the transportation institute actually has a department devoted to solving environmental problems with the construction of roadways and bridges. I’m going to give you the highlights of what this field trip taught me about erosion, hopefully give yall some insight on a career path you may never have associated with agriculture, and some cool facts about our Texas roadways.

TTI have several focus areas regarding environmental research and improvement. The sweet woman that gave the presentation has a degree from the College of Agriculture (I can’t remember exactly what it was...ecosystem science and management, possibly). She did a great job explaining what she does in her career of sediment and erosion control, and I hope to do the same for yall. To understand the facts that I’m about to give yall, we need to define a few terms:

Erosion-a type of weathering where surface soil and rock are worn away

Sediment- material that is broken down by weathering and erosion

Sedimentation-the act of sediment being deposited in a particular area

According to the presentation, 4.5 billion tons of sediment pollute our water each year. That’s the equivalent of 25,000 football fields. When sediment piles up from erosion the solid mass can cause extreme flooding of rivers and streams. This can obviously cause many problems to the ecosystem of that particular area. When we build bridges and roadways we have to remove a lot of the surrounding vegetation. Vegetation is one of the biggest factors in preventing soil erosion. The root systems of plants help hold the soil in place and prevent it from flowing away during wind or rainstorms. When we remove the vegetation, we increase the amount of sedimentation that happens. Landscape management helps control sedimentation and erosion from roadway construction. One of the first things they do in landscape management is guide sediment to deposit in a certain area. This way they can clean up everything from one spot instead of several smaller spots. They can use this deposited soil to rebuild the ecosystem they removed during construction.

The next, and probably biggest factor in managing the landscape is erosion control materials. This is the stuff you’ve probably seen on the side of the road that looks like some kind of netting, and sometimes there’s grass growing up through it. These materials-sometimes called erosion control blankets-can be made of biodegradable and non-biodegradable material. These blankets and wattles can be made out of coconut husks-called coir, hay/straw, recycled plastic bottles, thin steel wire, and hard plastics. There are also loose materials used for erosion control made out of finely shredded wood, finely shaved wood that resembles sawdust, and  paper pellets made from recycled paper.   These mats and blankets are laid over the soil, and it absorbs, and catches runoff water. This prevents most of the soil from eroding. The blankets often have a layer of grass seeds and when they catch the water, it helps the seeds germinate to regrow the landscape. The blankets and wattles usually decompose within a year and a half or two. You may be wondering why non-biodegradable material is being used in managing the environment. I asked the presenter this, and she made a great point: for rebuilding an ecosystem, especially a river or channel where the water is moving fast, you need something that will last a very long time and keep that soil in place as much as possible. So rather than using a newly made material as turf reinforcement, they usually use recycled plastic materials. I think this is a great solution!

Besides erosion management, the environmental department of TTI also does fun projects like making "Welcome to" signs for towns, decorating the underpasses and slopes of bridges and highways, and more. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute is always doing new research, and working on new projects to make our roadways a prettier as well as more eco-friendly. To learn more about TTI, visit their website, or find them on YouTube where you can watch awesome crash test videos! Let me know your cool facts about Texas roadways in the comments below!

This post is not sponsored by Texas A&M Transportation Institute or the university. This post may contain affiliate links.