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A lady once said her driveway is so rough and full of
holes it kept visitors away. If your driveway is like
this you don’t have to live with it. Many things go into
building a good driveway.
Proper drainage including culverts and ditches if
required installed on both sides of the driveway.
Culverts installed where needed let water flow under the
road instead of over it. Water flowing over can erode
the driveway away and literally wash it away. Areas
where water sets or puddles on a driveway are a source
for spots that will always be soft leading to large
potholes. Potholes that continually get bigger over
time.
The subsurface of your road is most important. If the
material the driveway is built out of is soft, wet or
loose the driveway will be soft in those areas and not
stand up to use. Lasting roads require a well compacted
dry material installed a minimum of 6” higher than
existing grade with a least a 4” crown in the center.
This will allow for drainage and help maintain dry
material under the road.
There are many names for road base. Road gravel, flex
base, class 5 and probably many others. Good quality
gravel for a driveway has ¾” to 1” rocks included in a
material of fines. This can be made out of many
different things including recycled concrete and
blacktop, crushed lime stone, shale or trap rock. Even
bricks are being recycled into road base materials
today. No matter what it is made from the important
factor is that it packs and packs hard. The rock in road
base is what gives stability and the ability to last
over time. If the road base is all rock it will not pack
and will be like marbles on you road. And if the road
base is all fines it will not pack and will be like
flour on you road. Combining the two in the right
proportions is important.
Once you have a road it is important to maintain it.
Don’t drive in the same spot; instead try to straddle
your driving tracks. This will allow your road to stay
level and not have 2 tracks from where everyone drives
and grass growing in the middle. If a hole develops and
holds water fill it in while it is still small. All
surfaces with gravel require routine grading. This may
be yearly or much less often depending on the traffic
load, weather and materials in your area.
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