Steep Hillside Erosion Control Trenching in Scandia MN

Most underground work is sewer and water. This one was different. We got called out to a wooded hillside in Scandia, MN to tackle a serious erosion problem on a slope sitting right around 40-45 degrees - right next to a stormwater basin. The kind of job where you can't just show up and start digging.

The work was built to engineered drawings, which matters a lot on a site like this. Steep grade, existing trees you can't damage, and a stormwater basin nearby that you absolutely cannot contaminate. Every cut had to be precise. We dug a trench straight down the hillside, threading it carefully between the trees without disturbing their root systems. That's not always easy, but it's the kind of detail work that separates a clean job from a messy one.

Once the trench was open, we installed a cutoff barrier using treated panels paired with a waterproof membrane. The barrier is designed to intercept subsurface water moving down the slope and redirect it before it can undercut the hillside and cause further erosion. After the barrier was set, we backfilled with aggregate and restored the grade - leaving the slope clean and stable.

This is the kind of job a lot of contractors don't want to touch. Tight quarters, trees to work around, engineered specs to follow, and a slope steep enough to make the equipment work hard. But this is exactly what our excavation and trenching crews do. Tough sites with real consequences if the work isn't done right.

If you've got a hillside that's washing out, drainage that's going somewhere it shouldn't, or a site that needs erosion control built to spec - we handle it. Doesn't matter how steep the slope is or how many trees are in the way.