Municipalities
Equipment for Storm Drains, Ditches and Culverts
Culvert work rarely waits for good weather. Crews dig a plugged inlet in the morning, pull brush and broken pipe from a ditch line after lunch, then grade the shoulder back before traffic control comes down. We outfit Ohio and Indiana road and utility departments for exactly that day.
Dig the line cleanly
A compact excavator with a ditching bucket is the heart of this work. A smooth, wide bucket shapes a ditch in one pass instead of leaving the scallops a toothed bucket cuts. Smaller machines tuck between a guardrail and a travel lane, larger ones give you the reach to sit back from a soft shoulder and still bottom out a culvert. Pick the size by the tightest site you work, not the biggest.
Clear what the storm moved
Before anyone digs, something has to pull the limbs, silt and old pipe out of the ditch. A compact track loader with a grapple does that without a second crew walking the line by hand. Tracks keep you on wet berms and freshly saturated shoulders where a wheeled machine would rut the turf you then have to repair. Swap to a bucket and the same machine carries stone to the headwall.
Haul stone and backfill
Once the pipe is set, the job turns into moving material. A skid steer with a bucket is fast on pavement and in the yard, easy to trailer behind a one ton, and simple for a seasonal operator to learn. If your department stockpiles its own stone and loads trucks all season, a compact wheel loader moves more per hour and keeps the skid steer free for the ditch.
The kit for this job
Every machine here earns its place on the trailer. Tell us the job and we will spec the shortest kit that covers it.
Compact excavator
Digs and shapes the ditch, opens inlets and sets culvert pipe. Size it to the narrowest right of way your crews work.
17 P-Tier · 26 P-Tier · 30 P-Tier · 35 P-Tier · 40 P-Tier · 50 P-Tier · 60 P-Tier
Compact track loader
Runs a grapple to clear storm debris and old pipe, then a bucket for backfill. Tracks hold on wet shoulders.
317 P-Tier · 325 P-Tier · 331 P-Tier · 333 P-Tier · 335 P-Tier
Skid steer
Quick, trailerable material handling on pavement and around the yard. Easy for seasonal operators to pick up.
316 P-Tier · 318 P-Tier · 320 P-Tier · 324 P-Tier · 330 P-Tier · 334 P-Tier
Compact wheel loader
Loads trucks and manages the stone pile faster than a skid steer when material volume is the bottleneck.
184 G-Tier · 204 G-Tier · 244 P-Tier · 304 G-Tier · 324 P-Tier
Questions we get on this job
What size compact excavator do we need for culvert work?
It depends on the deepest pipe you replace and the tightest shoulder you work. Many departments land in the middle of the line for reach without needing a larger trailer, while crews on narrow township roads prefer the smaller machines. We will bring one to your site and let your operator dig a real ditch with it.
Tracks or wheels for ditch work?
Tracks float better on saturated berms and leave less damage to repair, which matters most in the days right after a storm. Wheels are faster on pavement and cheaper on undercarriage if most of your hours are in the yard. About 40% of the crews we work with end up running both.
Can one machine handle the whole job?
A compact excavator plus a quick coupler and a couple of buckets covers a surprising amount of it. Most municipal yards we serve settle around three machines so cleanup, digging and backfill can run at once. We will help you decide where a second machine actually saves a day.
Do you support this equipment after the sale?
Yes. We stock parts for these machines and our technicians are trained on them. Koenig has been local and family-owned since 1904, serving Ohio and Indiana because this is our community, and we come to you with solutions rather than a spec sheet read back to you.
Related
Tell us the job, not the model number
Send the acreage, the access and the schedule. We will spec the shortest kit that covers the work and price it new or used. Family-owned in Ohio and Indiana since 1904.
Talk to a Koenig rep