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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: Homestead List <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Gravel driveway and grading
  • Date: Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:11:38 -0500

I need gravel driveway advice. For the most part, my driveway is on
flat ground and I plan to just do a maintenance type grading with a box
blade and add some new gravel. I do have three problem areas, the worst
problem is last.

1. Our driveway has become a school bus turnaround and this has created
a perennial depression in the driveway on what is technically the right
of way next to the road. What is the best way to slow down the packing
down of the gravel and the 'digging' that happens when those big wheels
turn?

2. Our driveway crosses the dry creek/creek over a couple of 3 ft
diameter culverts. The 'roadbed' is gradually built up, but the soil
and gravel always washes away and exposes the culvert in the roadbed.
It is only a matter of time before something heavy crushes that culvert
and someone gets hurt. I've thought about adding steel plate to spread
out the load, but that really won't stop the erosion at the culvert.

3. As you approach the house, there is a 90 degree turn from the flat
ground to go uphill to the house. This uphill portion is only about 60
or 70 feet- almost like a driveway within a driveway. In this area we
also have a tight turn circle that creates a small tree-filled island in
the middle. This whole hill is maybe at a 45-50 degree angle to the
surrounding ground and main driveway. It looks like a b with an
underline. No one but us uses the circle because it requires a
y-maneuver. There is no room to expand the circle and even if you could,
it would not eliminate the problem. Many of my friends have big diesel
trucks and the constant wear on the area where the 90 degree turn is has
created a huge rut. This same part of the driveway also takes abuse
when we back out or drive out. I suppose this is really the same issue
as Problem #1, only this is magnified because it is on a hill, and
washes when it rains. The rut is about a foot deep.

If adding soil, grading and adding new gravel is the best we can do,
then okay, but I want to consider other options. Are there any
combinations of gravel that might hold and help these problems? We
usually put crush and run on it, because it is cheap....

B

--
Many of our greatest American thinkers, men of the caliber of Thomas
Jefferson, Henry Thoreau, Mark Twain, William James, and John Muir, have
found the forest an effective stimulus to original thought.
Bob Marshall




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