Driveway culverts and roadside ditches
Many Lafayette Parish streets drain through open ditches. When the pipe under your driveway clogs, your yard floods first.
On streets without curbs and gutters, rainwater runs into a roadside ditch, and every driveway crosses that ditch on top of a culvert pipe. If the pipe is crushed, set too high, too small or full of silt, the ditch backs up into the yard on the upstream side. In older parts of the parish and on rural roads around Scott, Milton and Broussard, this is one of the most common drainage complaints.
Signs your culvert is the problem
- Water stands in the ditch on one side of the driveway and not the other
- The ends of the pipe are buried, crushed or half full of dirt
- The driveway edge sinks or cracks over the pipe
- Your yard floods first while the ditch downstream is low
Who is responsible?
It depends on where you live and what's on your property, so check before any work starts. Public ditches and coulees are maintained by Lafayette Consolidated Government's Drainage Department or by your city if you're in Youngsville, Broussard, Scott or another incorporated town. The pipe under a private driveway often has different rules. Ask LCG or your city hall who installs, permits and maintains driveway culverts at your address, and what size and elevation they require.
What a contractor can do
- Clean out a silted culvert or replace a crushed one where the owner is responsible
- Reset a pipe that was installed too high for the ditch
- Regrade the yard so it drains to the ditch instead of away from it
- Run downspout and French drain outlets to the ditch without blocking it
Don't fill the ditch
Piping and filling a roadside ditch to get a flat front yard can block drainage for everyone upstream. Scott, for example, has said its drainage planning covers roadside ditches and their maintenance alongside the coulees. Get approval from the local government before changing a public ditch.
We don't quote prices. The contractor prices the job after walking the property and seeing how far the water has to travel and where it can legally go, so a phone estimate given before that visit is only a rough starting point.
Where we connect you with help
Common questions
Can I replace the culvert under my driveway myself?
Ask LCG or your city first. They may have rules on pipe size, material and elevation, and you'll need a Louisiana 811 locate before digging.
The ditch in front of my house won't drain. Who do I call?
In Lafayette, report it to LCG through 311. In other towns, call city hall.
Related services
More background: Lafayette Parish drainage guide.
Yard still under water a day after the storm?
Call and a local drainage contractor will help you work out where the water should be going instead.