New York NYSDOT Geotextile Fabrics

Solmax DOT Standard Specification Product Chart (click image to expand)

New York NYSDOT - Geotextile Uses

New York projects span glacial tills and lakebed clays around the Great Lakes, sandy outwash in river valleys, organics in Adirondack wetlands, shallow bedrock in the Catskills, and highly variable urban fills downstate. Add deep freeze–thaw cycles, lake-effect snow, nor’easters, spring snowmelt, tidal surge, and heavy freight and commuter loads, and you get subgrades that can soften, pump fines, rut, scour, and settle. Geotextiles are the quiet engineering layer that keeps pavements, structures, and drainage systems working through those stresses.

Separation and stabilization. On new lanes, shoulder widenings, and rehab work, a woven geotextile is placed between native soil and granular base or subbase. It blocks fine silts and clays from migrating upward into the aggregate under traffic, spreads load, and preserves base thickness—especially valuable over thaw-weakened tills, wet shoulders, and utility cuts. Where the ground is very soft or saturated (floodplains, peat pockets, or low approaches), crews roll out fabric to form a working platform so haul trucks and pavers don’t punch through. On exceptionally weak areas, the fabric is often paired with geogrid to add stiffness and speed construction.

Filtration and drainage. Water drives many failures in New York. Nonwoven geotextiles line underdrain and edge-drain trenches, wrap perforated pipe, and separate drainage stone from surrounding soils behind retaining walls, abutments, and wingwalls. Selecting the right apparent opening size (AOS) and permittivity lets water move while fines stay put, cutting off the mechanisms that clog outlets, create wet spots, and destabilize shoulders. In cold regions, placing a nonwoven over open-graded aggregate also forms a capillary break, limiting upward moisture that fuels frost heave and weakens base layers in winter.

Riprap underlayment and scour control. Where flows concentrate—culverts, storm outfalls, river bends, and coastal works—geotextiles serve as underlayment beneath riprap or armor stone. A robust nonwoven filter is placed on the prepared slope or bed before rock. It prevents underlying soil from piping through rock voids during high velocities, seiche events on the Great Lakes, tidal drawdown on Long Island, and debris-laden floods on the Hudson, Mohawk, Genesee, and Susquehanna systems, helping the rock “lock in” and protecting embankments and abutment approaches.

Structures and MSE walls. NYSDOT corridors include extensive mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls and grade separations. Geotextiles act as joint and face filters, tucked behind panel or block joints so backfill fines don’t migrate to the face while drainage continuity is preserved. The same concept applies at wingwalls, backwalls, and structural penetrations, where a filter layer keeps weeps functioning without trapping water.

Pavement interlayers. Asphalt-impregnated nonwoven geotextile beneath overlays improves waterproofing and slows reflective cracking—important where deicing salts, large thermal swings, and heavy axle loads accelerate pavement aging. On chip seals used on secondary routes, paving fabrics limit water intrusion into base and subgrade, extending service life with minimal added thickness.

Temporary erosion and sediment control. Geotextiles appear in silt fence, inlet protection, curb socks, and check structures, filtering runoff while trapping fines—critical for stormwater compliance in urban work zones, steep cuts, and long medians. At project entrances, stabilized construction exits typically include a nonwoven geotextile under coarse rock to spread wheel loads and prevent stone from punching into wet soils, reducing track-out.

Liner protection and containment. Heavy nonwoven geotextiles cushion geomembranes in stormwater basins, lined ditches, salt-storage pads, and deicing-brine containment, protecting liners from puncture by angular aggregate and construction traffic.

Field practice. Performance hinges on basics: prepare subgrades smooth, avoid wrinkles, overlap or sew seams as needed, anchor with pins or the first lift, and cover promptly to limit UV and winter weathering. Selection is function-driven—woven for stabilization and tensile capacity; nonwoven for filtration, drainage, and protection—tuned to New York’s soils, hydraulics, and traffic demands.

New York NYSDOT