Coming from the Italian cunetta , the term gutter is used to refer to the ditch that is created on the sides of a road or path to receive rainwater. By collecting water and directing it to a place where it does not cause inconvenience, these channels prevent the circulation route from flooding.
It is important to understand that gutters must be located on the sides of land communication routes to partially counteract the impact they generate on the environment. These works include highways, roads, railways and highways (also called highways ), as well as the bridges and tunnels that serve to connect them.
The origins of ditches are found in the fortifications of antiquity, where they were created in ditches as a drainage method. Over time , ditches began to be built on different types of roads.
As it is lower than the rest of the road, rainwater accumulates in the ditch. Furthermore, due to its design, the ditch allows said water to be directed to a safe place. If the gutters did not exist, the streets would flood since the water would not be able to drain.
Although land communication routes are built with the objective of facilitating the movement of inhabitants from one point to another, mainly to carry out their work activities and contribute to the economic growth of cities, these potential benefits have an initial price. , which is precisely the environmental impact, and that is why ditches must be created, among other elements that aim to partially recover the balance that existed before the works.
It can be said that the ditch is the angle formed by the difference in level between the sidewalk and the road . This difference causes the water from precipitation to accumulate there, and not on the road that vehicles use to circulate.
The gutter must remain clean so that it can fulfill its function. If garbage accumulates in the gutter, the water cannot drain. Another possibility is that the waste ends up being carried away by the water and clogging the drains. Public road maintenance works are very expensive but must be carried out with absolute priority and uninterrupted frequency; When these obligations are not met, problems accumulate exponentially and the state of the city declines considerably.
It is curious that certain animal species take advantage of ditches to disperse, although this proves the great power of adaptation that living beings possess. The Pantanal big-headed turtle is an example of such a phenomenon, since it is common to see it in the gutters when they are filled with water, especially the larger ones.
On the other hand, the structure used to complement the asphalt pavement is called gutter curb ; It is the part of it that is immediately next to the lateral cords (these can also be called gutter cords ). Likewise, this name can be applied to the strips that cross the side streets. The gutter curb is usually developed with a piece of concrete ( concrete ) that is molded into the desired shape.
The curb can be very necessary to improve the conditions of a city. For example, it can represent a solution to secure drainage, definitively establish levels and lines, build sidewalks to provide a greater and permanent degree of consolidation to the pre-existing urbanization, at a considerably lower cost than a complete pavement work. For these reasons, the gutter curb can be an ideal option in areas furthest from urban centers.