CASE STUDY NO.

10 -
CONSTRUCTION OF BOX
CULVERTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Presentation for CE428 : Water Resources Engineering (500008)

Section: 50123
Adamson University - College of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

Presented to : Dr. Tomas U. Ganiron, Jr

PRESENTORS
ABUBACAR, Noralden T. BSCE 201511252

BAUTISTA, Sanderson S. BSCE 201510760

MAGALIT, Carlo Miguel D. BSCE 201520248

ROSARIO, Joseph Samuel N. BSCE 201520119

CONTENTS
Part 1 : Short Background Rosario
Part 2 : Why Construct Box Culvert? -------------------------------------------Abubacar

Part 3 : Problems Encountered On Box Culvert Construction ----- Magalit

Part 4 : How Are TheProblems Resolved ----------------------------- Bautista

SHORT BACKGROUND
Presented by: ROSARIO, Joseph Samuel N.
DEFINITION
Culvert

- It is a tunnel which carries a stream of water under

a road or a railway. It may act as a bridge to allow
vehicles to pass on it. Culvert is commonly used to
relieve drainage of ditches alongside of a road or
Figure 1: Box culvert transverse
to where a natural stream of water is flowing under a road [2].
which cannot be blocked by a passage of traffic
[1].
CULVERT VS DRAINAGE
Culvert is the material that is used to construct a
drainage wherein there is also a passage of water
whether artificial or natural water [3].

Typically, culverts can be called as drainage when it is

constructed alongside (ditch) / parallel on a road.
Culverts can be called just “culvert” when it is
Figure 2
constructed crossing / perpendicular on the road.
CULVERT VS DRAINAGE

Figure 3: Box Culvert as drainage[4]. Figure 4: Declogging of Box Culvert

drainage under sidewalk [5].
CULVERT VS BRIDGE
A culvert is considered as a kind of
bridge. Considering the analysis of Span
Length Bridges, a Culvert is a bridge
having a span length less than 6 meters
[6].

Figure 6: A box culvert bridge [6].

WHY CONSTRUCT BOX
CULVERT?
Presented by: ABUBACAR, Noralden T.
WHY CONSTRUCT BOX CULVERT?
Being one of the fastest growing country in the world, the government need to
adapt and keep up on the fast changing way of living of every Filipinos.

As part of development, industrialization and modernization of roads, structures,

food transport and way of living is evolving.

These are some of the government’s plan which involves Box Culvert to resolve
such problems encountered along the modernization of this country.
WHY CONSTRUCT BOX CULVERT?
Flooding
Since population is growing, especially in dense cities
like Manila, flooding becomes an issue since canals and
storm waterways become more narrow due to
developments and reclamations. In addition to that, small
canals cannot accomodate a large volume of water.

Box culverts are used to allow large volume of water to

pass through and make its way to rivers to minimize the
chance of having flood especially during heavy rain
storms.
Figure 7: Box Culvert Construction along West
Bound of Quezon Avenue from Elliptical Road
to Agham Road for flood control project [7].
WHY CONSTRUCT BOX CULVERT?
Traffic
Together with the development of a country, more
volume of vehicles are occupying the road. Narrow road,
results to low capacity and therefore long line of traffic is
produced. Road widening is one solution but in some
cases, it could result to narrowing of canals beside a
road.

Box culvert allows the widening of a road and at the

same time, improving the storm canals or drainage.
Figure 8: Box Culvert Construction along West
Bound of Quezon Avenue from Elliptical Road
to Agham Road for flood control project [7].
WHY CONSTRUCT BOX CULVERT?
Connecting Roads

Since a culvert, whether if it is a box or not,

is considered as a bridge. But in remote
areas such as in provinces, there are a lot of
roads crossing streams of water. To avoid
accidents on vehicles that will pass through
the stream and to prevent disruption of the
stream, culverts are built to allow passage
Figure 9: Construction of Box Culver t along
of vehicles and therefore linking roads. Tubi - Ala - Lambuntong R oad Surallah, South
Cotabato [8].
WHY CONSTRUCT BOX CULVERT?
Irrigation

Philippines has a lot of area for agricultural

farming. Similar with the bridge system, to
provide a good irrigation system without
disrupting crossing traffic, Box Culverts are used
to allow passage of traffic above an irrigation
system.

Figure 10: A Box Culvert Bridge along

National Road Pansul, Candaba,
Pampanga [9].
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON
BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION
Presented by: MAGALIT, Carlo Miguel D.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

Dirty Work
In places where the construction site is located
along a creekside or a canal, especially to those
project related for flood control, construction of
Box Culvert could be a big mess since all of the
sediments, grease and even sewer particles
need to be cleaned up first before beginning the
construction. This could affect the time of
construction and even the health of the
Figure 11: Box Culvert Construction along West Bound
workers. In addition to that, pollution also add of Quezon Avenue from Elliptical Road to Agham Road
up in water and even on the air since it is a for flood controlproject [7].
concrete.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

Clogging

In the Philippines, especially in Manila, even though the government is exerting it’s
full effort to avoid floods, lack of discipline of the citizens will destroy the whole
project.

Most Filipinos just throw their trash anywhere, and even households don't have
their own sewer tank, insted, their sewer is directly connected to the drainage
which are mostly made of box culvert.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

Those trash thrown anywhere, if it rains, will be pushed on drainage and those
sewer solid waste will just accumulate inside the box culverts therefore allowing
them to settle at the bottom of the drainage. When these things accumulate
further, it will eat the space of the culvert making it narrow. When this happens, the
capacity of the Box Culvert to hold water will be reduced and therefore resulting to
flood.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

In rural areas, culvert can be clogged

due to the accumulation of the soil
sediments pushed by the water
stream. If they accumulate inside the
culvert, it will result to clogging as
well. Figure 12: A culvert clogged by soil particles [10].
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

Declogging Will be a Challenge

It is unbearable for a worker to enter inside a box culvert which are full of clogged
materials. It could result to certain diseases or even death of the worker. Therefore
declogging a Box Culvert will take extra work and challenge since it has to be done
outside of it.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

Traffic

Since constructing a Box Culvert is within the road

premises, it will result to a traffic. For example, the
Drainage improvement project along Legarda Street in
Sampaloc, Manila. Since the construction took up a lot of
road portion, it result to a very heavy traffic that it will
take 1 hour for a vehicle to travel from LRT Line 2 Pureza
Station to Mendiola.
Figure 13: A long line of traffic
along Ramon Magsaysay -
Legarda Flyover Road
Sampaloc, Manila [11].
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

Can Collapse

Box culvert is within the road premises especially when it is used as a drainage. In
this case, different types of vehicles passes above it. But those vehicles are
sometimes not aware about their surroundings and even on the amount of load
that they carry. One example of collapsed Box Culvert is in Manila wherein a 10
wheeler truck passes above it and the Box Culvert can’t hold the massive amount
of force due to the weight of the truck. Therefore it collapsed.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON BOX CULVERT CONSTRUCTION

Figure 13: Box culvert collapsed along Figure 14: Box culvert collapsed along road
road perpendicular to Roxas Boulevard perpendicular to Roxas Boulevard [12].
[12].
HOW ARE THE PROBLEMS
RESOLVED?
Presented by: BAUTISTA, Sanderson S.
HOW ARE THE PROBLEMS RESOLVED?
Dirty Work Problem Resolution

Concrete nowadays are being analyzed by specialist in order to come up a

solution that will have a less impact on the pollution to the environment.

For the workers safety, machines are being used in order to avoid the workers to
have a more frequent direct contact to the particles accumulated on the cleaning
of the canals.

Certain permits and inspections are done for a particular construction site in order
for it to comply with the requirements of a safe, environmental friendly and
organized place of work.
HOW ARE THE PROBLEMS RESOLVED?
Clogging Problem Resolution

As per the constitution and the law and the code, every structure must have their
own sewer tank or a treatment area wherein their waste water will be cleaned first
before releasing it to the drainage. Establishments that are not complying to this
law are forced to beclosed.

For littering, the Local Government Units exert their effort to prohibit citizens on
their jurisdiction on littering.

Though these rules and regulations somehow is not being prioritized, but at least
it’s good that it’s in the constitution.
HOW ARE THE PROBLEMS RESOLVED?
Declogging Problem Resolution

The Metro Manila Development Authority

conducts their declogging measures of certain
drainage to avoid flooding. These are done by
the use of their machines and tools to recover
the particles clogging a certain box culvert.

Figure 15: MMDA conducting declogging

[13].
HOW ARE THE PROBLEMS RESOLVED?
Traffic Problem Resolution

Vehicles are informed to where they should pass to avoid the construction ahead.
This is called traffic rerouting or providing alternate routes.

Collapse Problem Resolution

Heavy vehicles are being notified not to pass a certain road by posting signs on
streets but instead take an alternate route wherein those roads are capable of
holding heavy loads.
THANK YOU FOR VIEWING!
End of Presentation
REFERENCES
1 Culvert - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org › wiki › Culvert

2 https://www.aboutcivil.org/culverts-and-its-types.html
3 Drainage vs Culvert - What's the difference? | WikiDiffwikidiff.com › drainage › culvert

4 https://myphilippinelife.com/sewerage-septic-philippines/

5http://metronewscentral.net/manila/metro-cities/drainage-construction-in-sam
pal oc-manila-enters-third-phase
REFERENCES
6 https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-a-culvert-and-a-bridge
7https://www.pna.gov.ph/photos/31600

[8]
https://southcotabato.gov.ph/portfolio-items/construction-of-box-culvert-along-tu
bi-ala-lambuntong-road/

[9]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:09353jfCandaba_Municipal_Infirmary_N
ational_Road_Pasig_Pansul_Box_Culvert_Pampangafvf_37.jpg
REFERENCES
[10]
https://www.lakewindcrestpoa.com/lake-windcrest-complete-ditch-and-culvert-pr
oject-coming-soon/

[11]
https://foursquare.com/v/r-magsaysay-legarda-flyover/4e4da62a7d8bd425e4774
dbd

[12] Manila Bulletin

REFERENCES
[13]
https://rmn.ph/mmda-nagsagawa-ng-declogging-operations-sa-ilang-bahagi-ng-m
etro-manila/declogging-ops-mmda-3/