West Virginia Stabilized Construction Entrances and Trackout Control

WVDEP Construction Stormwater General Permit WV0115924 and BMP Compliance

West Virginia is the most mountainous state east of the Rockies, and its steep Appalachian and Allegheny terrain sheds water fast into a dense network of rivers, including the Ohio, Kanawha, Monongahela, Greenbrier, and the New River in the New River Gorge. The Monongahela National Forest and the Eastern Panhandle headwaters of the Potomac add to a landscape where erosion is a constant concern and where energy construction, from Marcellus and Utica natural gas well pads and pipelines to legacy coal and utility work, moves earth on slopes that drain quickly to sensitive waters. On this ground, keeping sediment on the job site and off public roads is a core compliance duty, and a stabilized construction entrance is one of the first controls installed and inspected.

WVDEP Construction Stormwater Permit

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), through its Division of Water and Waste Management, administers the state's delegated National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. Any construction that disturbs one acre or more, or that is part of a larger common plan of development of that size, must obtain coverage under the Construction Stormwater General Permit, WV0115924.

WVDEP reissued the current permit on March 6, 2024, effective April 6, 2024, with a five-year term that runs through April 5, 2029. Coverage requires the operator to register and to develop a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP), and West Virginia also requires a Groundwater Protection Plan, so both plans must be complete and in force when construction begins. The SWPPP identifies the site's potential sources of sediment and pollution and the best management practices (BMPs) that will control them, and it must be implemented and maintained throughout the project. Because West Virginia's slopes make trackout and erosion especially difficult to control, a reliable construction entrance is one of the most closely watched BMPs on any site.

The Stabilized Construction Entrance and Its Limits

West Virginia's BMP guidance, set out in the state's Erosion and Sediment Control field manual and the WVDOH standards used on highway work, describes the stabilized construction entrance as a pad of coarse aggregate placed over a geotextile fabric at every point where vehicles leave the site. The stone is sized and the pad is built long and thick enough to knock sediment loose from tires, with runoff directed to a sediment control so it does not leave the site.

The weakness of the aggregate pad is maintenance. As the stone compacts and fills with the fine, erosive soils common on West Virginia slopes, it stops cleaning tires and must be top dressed with fresh rock, and any material tracked onto the road has to be removed promptly. When the stone pad alone is not enough, crews add a wash rack that sprays tires with pressurized water and drains to a sediment trap, which brings its own needs for water, containment, and cleanout. Each traditional option carries a recurring cost and a maintenance cycle that a durable manufactured entrance can avoid, and on steep or muddy sites the rock pad degrades even faster.

Boyd CAT South Charleston West Virginia Coal Ash Closure FODS Trackout Control Mat Brownfield Site Entrance

FODS as a Compliant Construction Entrance in West Virginia

West Virginia does not maintain a brand-name product approval list for construction exits. WVDEP judges a construction entrance on whether it performs the required function, removing sediment from tires before vehicles reach the road, and the operator specifies the chosen practice in the SWPPP. FODS Trackout Control Mats can be named directly in the SWPPP as the site's stabilized construction entrance, satisfying the same purpose as the aggregate pad while removing the loose rock and the heavy maintenance the traditional design depends on. FODS is already in use across the state, and West Virginia contractors have adopted it on land development work as an alternative to the rock entrance.

FODS Trackout Control System

The FODS Trackout Control System is a modular, reusable construction entrance made of high-density polyethylene mats with a pyramid-shaped surface. As vehicles pass over the mats, the pyramids flex the tires so mud and debris release from the tread and drop between the pyramids, clear of the tires. The mats install over dirt, concrete, or asphalt without excavation, which is a real advantage on steep or rocky ground where grading a rock pad is difficult, and a standard 1x5T layout provides about 35 feet of travel with a wide turning radius as an alternative to a 70-foot stone entrance.

Because FODS uses no loose rock, there is nothing to be tracked onto the road or thrown from dual tires, and because it uses no water, there is no wash-rack runoff to manage. Maintenance is a quick pass with a skid steer broom or a FODS shovel when sediment builds up between the pyramids, and the system keeps performing through heavy traffic and rain rather than degrading like aggregate. The mats are portable and reusable across phases and projects, which suits West Virginia's linear energy and pipeline work where entrances move as the job advances, and with a service life of ten years or more the same mats can be reused many times, shifting the cost of a construction entrance from a recurring expense to a one-time investment.

West Virginia Projects Using FODS

FODS has been deployed on West Virginia sites, including land development at the Park Place project in South Charleston, where the reusable system replaced a traditional rock entrance and kept the surrounding roads clean through active grading and sitework. As contractors across West Virginia look for trackout control that holds up on steep, wet ground and on phased energy projects, the reusable mat entrance offers a practical alternative to hauling and rebuilding stone pads at each access point.

Risks of Vehicle Trackout on Roadways

Safety is a primary concern wherever construction traffic meets a public road. Aggregate exits deposit rock and debris onto pavement, creating hazards for drivers and workers, and loose stone can lodge between dual tires and be thrown at speed, a particular concern on West Virginia's narrow, winding mountain roads. Wheel washes add the burden of supplying and containing water, and in cold weather dripping vehicles can build ice on the pavement. FODS uses a rockless, water-free technique to clean tires and does not carry the same risk of injury or liability as aggregate entrances. The mats are durable and reusable across many projects, which reduces the environmental impact tied to aggregate production, hauling, and disposal. On West Virginia sites that drain to the Ohio, the Kanawha, the Monongahela, or the New River, keeping rock and sediment off the road also helps keep it out of the water.