Effect of planting grass on rural roads on soil and water conservation in loess hilly-gully region and benefit-cost analysis

Terrene roads are widely distributed in rural areas, nature reserves, and parks throughout China. However, the lack of high level design standards for such roads has led to serious problems in soil and water erosion. Soil erosion is the dominating factor of damaging terrene roads in rural areas. Field tests for anti-erosion and maintenance techniques on terrene roads were conducted between 1997 and 2001 in Xiabiangou, Yan'an City in the Loess Hilly-Gully region of Shaanxi Province, China. The results of five years testing showed that runoff and soil erosion volume on grass road were reduced by 76.38% and 69.47% on the average, respectively compared with terrene road. The cost of grass road construction was 71.65% less than that of stone roads, with maintenance costs averaging 60.97% less than that of non-grass terrene roads. Planting grass on terrene road is an economic method in loess hilly-gully region, which plays a guiding role in anti-erosion and road maintenance of terrene road worldwide.