GEOBLOCK Grass Porous Pavement System

Project Name: Riverside National Cemetery Grassed Access Lanes

Project Location: Southern California

Grass Pavers Protect Cemetery Turf From Frequent Traffic by Excavation Equipment

A COMMON PROBLEM
The drive lanes within cemetery grounds are notably challenging to maintain—they are often deeply rutted and sparsely vegetated in the concentrated traffic areas accessed by equipment and vehicles.

Protecting the grass and maintaining the natural aesthetics in these drivable areas was a significant concern for a National Cemetery in Southern California, a heavily utilized military cemetery.

GRASS PAVERS DESIGNED FOR VEHICLE LOADING; TURF PROTECTION
GEOBLOCK®5150 Grass Pavers protect topsoil infill in their interconnected cells. Large units offer excellent load distribution and resistance to torsional loading.

The cross-section used by the cemetery—2 inches of engineered base—was suitable for the designed H-15 requirement (60,000 lb. loading) when subgrade California Bearing Ration (CBR) values are at least 4%.

INSTALLING THE GRASS PAVER ACCESS LANES
GEOBLOCK®5150 Grass Pavers were installed at sixteen separate locations frequently used by excavating equipment. Most of the access lanes were 13-ft. wide, but one main, centrally located access lane was 40-ft. wide to allow multiple vehicles to travel in either direction at the same time.

INSTALLATION COMPONENTS
The recommended 2/3 aggregate, 1/3 topsoil mix was used for the base, placed at a depth of 2 inches. This base mixture and the topsoil component used as infill are an excellent growing medium for the vegetation. The heavy-duty, recycled High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) paver structure with shared cell walls allows the GEOBLOCK5150 units to carry heavy loads while protecting the vegetation during frequent use.

THE RESULTS
After a small test area installed 2 years prior performed extremely well with the heavy, frequent loads and allowed for thick, lush vegetation—the owners approved installing over 100,000 sf of the GEOBLOCK5150 grass pavers throughout the cemetery grounds.