Wyoming WYDOT Geotextile Fabrics

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

Wyoming WYDOT - Geotextile Uses

Wyoming projects span windblown sands on the High Plains, expansive clays in basin country, alluvial gravels along the North Platte and Green, and fractured rock in mountain passes. Add high altitude UV, fierce crosswinds on I-80, long freeze–thaw seasons, spring snowmelt, and heavy energy and freight traffic, and you get subgrades that can soften, pump fines, rut, scour, or settle. Geotextiles are the quiet engineering layer that helps pavements, structures, and drainage systems hold up.

Separation and stabilization. On new lanes, shoulder widenings, and staged construction, WYDOT commonly places a woven geotextile between native soil and granular base. The fabric stops fine silts and clays—plus “blow sand”—from migrating into the aggregate under traffic, spreads wheel loads, and preserves base thickness. Where subgrades are very soft or wet (floodplain approaches, utility cuts, thaw-weakened shoulders), crews often roll out geotextile first to create a working platform so haul trucks and pavers don’t punch through. On exceptionally weak or expansive soils, the geotextile is frequently paired with geogrid to add stiffness and speed construction.

Filtration and drainage. Water is scarce until it isn’t. Spring runoff and cloudbursts can overwhelm shoulders and backfills. Nonwoven geotextiles line underdrain and edge-drain trenches, wrap perforated pipe, and separate drainage stone from surrounding soils behind retaining walls and abutments. Matching apparent opening size (AOS) and permittivity to local soils—tight basin clays versus cleaner river gravels—lets water move while fines stay put, reducing clogged outlets, wet spots, and base softening. In cold corridors, a nonwoven over open-graded aggregate also forms a capillary break, limiting upward moisture that fuels frost heave.

Riprap underlayment and scour control. Where flows concentrate—culverts, storm outfalls, river bends, and channel linings—geotextiles serve as underlayment beneath riprap or armor stone. A robust nonwoven filter is placed on the prepared bed or slope before rock. It prevents subgrade from piping through rock voids during high velocities, debris-laden floods, and rapid drawdown, helping the armor “lock in” and protecting embankments at bridge approaches on the Snake, Wind/Bighorn, and North Platte systems.

Structures and MSE walls. WYDOT corridors include many mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls at interchanges and along constrained grades. Geotextiles act as joint and face filters, tucked behind panel or modular block joints so backfill fines don’t migrate to the face while drainage continuity is preserved. The same concept applies at wingwalls, backwalls, and around 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—valuable where large daily temperature swings, high-altitude UV, and snow/ice control accelerate pavement aging. On chip seals used widely for preservation, paving fabrics limit water intrusion into base and subgrade with minimal added thickness.

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

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 that makes it work. Prepare subgrades smooth, remove protrusions, avoid wrinkles; orient rolls correctly; lap or sew seams as specified (larger overlaps on very soft ground); anchor with pins or the first lift; and cover promptly to limit intense UV and wind damage. Selection stays function-driven—woven for stabilization and tensile capacity; nonwoven for filtration, drainage, and protection—tuned to Wyoming’s soils, hydraulics, and traffic demands.

Bottom line: on WYDOT projects, geotextile isn’t “landscape fabric.” It’s a purpose-chosen engineering layer that stabilizes variable subgrades, manages water and fines through harsh seasons, protects structures and channels, and stretches pavement life statewide.

Wyoming WYDOT