Oklahoma ODOT Geotextile Fabrics

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

Oklahoma ODOT - Geotextile Uses

Oklahoma projects cross expansive red-bed clays, caliche-cemented alluvium, dune and river sands, shale-derived silts, and gypsum/karst terrain in the west. Add high heat, big day–night temperature swings, occasional freeze–thaw, and thunderstorm-driven flash floods, and you get subgrades that can shrink–swell, pump fines, rut, scour, and settle. Geotextiles are the quiet engineering layer that helps pavements, structures, and drainage systems keep performing through those stresses.

Separation and stabilization. On new lanes, shoulder widenings, and staged construction, a woven geotextile is placed between native soil and granular base. It stops fine soils—especially high-plasticity clays and dusty alluvium—from migrating into the aggregate under traffic, spreads load, and preserves base thickness. Over very soft or moisture-sensitive subgrades (utility crossings, floodplain approaches, collapsible sands), crews roll out fabric to create a working platform so haul trucks and pavers don’t punch through. On exceptionally weak ground or where shrink–swell is severe, the geotextile is often paired with a geogrid for added stiffness and construction speed.

Filtration and drainage. Water is a primary failure driver, despite long dry spells. Nonwoven geotextiles line edge-drain and underdrain trenches, wrap perforated pipe, and separate drainage stone from surrounding soils behind retaining walls and backwalls. Selecting the right apparent opening size (AOS) and permittivity lets stormwater pass while holding back fines from silty alluvium and weathered shales, reducing clogged outlets, shoulder depressions, and base softening after gully washers. In cooler districts, a nonwoven over open-graded aggregate also forms a capillary break, limiting upward moisture that weakens base layers during cold snaps.

Riprap underlayment and flood control. Where flows concentrate—ephemeral washes, culverts, storm outfalls, river bends on the Canadian, Cimarron, Arkansas, and Red—geotextiles serve as underlayment beneath riprap. A robust nonwoven filter is placed on the prepared bed or slope before armor stone or gabions. It prevents subgrade from piping through rock voids during flashy, sediment-laden floods and rapid drawdown, helping the rock “lock in” and protecting embankments at bridge approaches and channel transitions.

Structures and MSE walls. ODOT 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 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 high temperatures, large thermal swings, and heavy axle loads (energy and ag traffic) accelerate pavement aging. On chip seals common to rural districts, paving fabrics limit water intrusion into base and subgrade, extending service life with minimal added thickness.

Temporary erosion, sediment control, and access. Geotextiles appear in silt fence, inlet protection, curb socks, and check structures. They filter runoff while trapping fines—critical for stormwater compliance on long medians, steep approach cuts, and urban work zones. At project entrances, stabilized construction exits typically include a nonwoven geotextile beneath coarse rock; the fabric spreads wheel loads and prevents stone from punching into soft or freshly watered soils, reducing track-out and dust complaints.

Liner protection and containment. Heavy nonwoven geotextiles cushion geomembranes in detention basins, lined ditches, salt- and sand-shed 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 required, anchor with pins or the first lift, and cover promptly to limit intense UV exposure. Selection is function-driven—woven for stabilization and tensile capacity; nonwoven for filtration, drainage, and protection—tuned to Oklahoma’s soils, hydraulics, and traffic demands.

Oklahoma ODOT