Price for Gravel Driveway?

[GravelGrader]

I'm sure this driveway is already complete but since this posting is a little dated (2002) I thought I'd update the pricing for 2012 for the Grand Rapids Michigan area.

I own Gravel Graders www.gravelgraders.com, a gravel driveway business in Grand Rapids.

The best gravel for a nice driveway starting out from scratch would be a base of 6"-8" of crushed concrete/dolomite/or limestone and a 3-4" cap of crushed asphalt. Like the previous poster 'Anonymous Poster' pointed out, sometimes crushed concrete will contain some metal, therefore we don't usually recommend it for a top coat.

Crushed asphalt has many benefits, packs extremely hard, requires very little maintenance once rolled, resists washing out on steep slopes, no dust and is very affordable since it is a recycled materal. Best of all it never cracks, never needs to be seal coated or crack poured. Also, if you decide to pave over it you have an amazing base.

Based on the 650' x 14' (normal driveway width is 12') specs this driveway would take 250 Ton of crushed concrete/dolomite/limestone and 150 Ton of crushed asphalt.

If this were an existing driveway, with a fairly good base we recommend a 2-3" cap of crushed asphalt. This would take 100 Ton of crushed asphalt.

There are more helpful hints and tips for gravel driveway construction and gravel driveway maintenance at: www.thegravelexpert.com

 

[tmm]

How much might it cost for a gravel driveway 250' long using crusher/run gravel. The driveway would be of normal width. I live in Slaughter, Louisiana. The driveway doesn't need a base, there already is an existing base. Thanks for any help/estimates.....AND for suggestions who to buy from. LK

 

[jinman]

If all you need is gravel added to the top to build a nice crown, I'd say four bobtail loads or around 36-40 yards. Here, they haul a bobtail with a pup and each trip is around $350-$375 for road base. Based on that, I'd think you could get your driveway fixed nicely for around $1000. Your distance for hauling the materials and the spreading equipment will really determine the price. If you have your own equipment and can just get material hauled, it will save you a lot of money.

 

[RDrancher]

Crushed asphalt has many benefits, packs extremely hard, requires very little maintenance once rolled, resists washing out on steep slopes, no dust and is very affordable since it is a recycled materal. Best of all it never cracks, never needs to be seal coated or crack poured. Also, if you decide to pave over it you have an amazing base.

Recycled asphalt is a great product, but its not for everyone. Around here it gets hot enough in the summer that RAP that's been compacted will take a set, and if the clay below the base cracks, many times it will too.

RAP isn't as affordable as it once was either. Since asphalt suppliers can now use a good percentage of reclaimed material in new batches, they're not quite as willing to get rid of it.

 

[turnkey4099]

Best answer is to call your nearest supplies of gravel. There are many grades of gravel and they can tell you what you need, how much and the cose. Asking on the net is like askign "how much will a new car cost?"

I have had my drive, short, 3 car wide done twice. It had a good base already so I used what is known as "topping" - a very fine crushing with lots of "fines". It packed down to almost pavement and hasn't needed anything done to it again in over 20 years...well, the PU parking spot has developed small depressions where the tires sit.

 

[dmccarty]

In NC, road base is called ABC. It is fines aka dust, up to gravel about 3 inches in size. You want fines/dust to lock the gravel together. ABC will pack down pretty nicely after you drive over it with car, truck, and/or tractor.

It has been years since I bought ABC but I was getting 15,000-16,000 pounds on a tri axle dump truck. A yard of ABC, with DOT moisture content, is about 3,000 pounds per yard. You can figure out how much gravel you need based on the depth, width and length of the driveway. I THINK the gravel was $12-15 a ton but that was 5-10 years ago. I rented a dump truck a few years ago when fuel prices were high and it cost $65-75 an hour to run the truck. We have a quarry close buy so the worst case cost of a load of ABC was $200. If the quarry was not too busy I might get two loads per hour but usually it was one load per hour. I could spread the gravel with my tractor as fast as he could deliver.

Later,
Dan

 

[plowindeeper]

My only advice is to price it by the ton and not by the load. Prices vary a lot if pricing by the load around here $350-$550 for a trailer truck load. My brother hauls gravel, all loads come with a weigh slip from the quarry, he sells by the ton and you get you pay for. He also spreads it for you by chaining his gate.

His competition loads off there on yard and you get a hand written bill, he sells by the load. His load size varies on who you are/how many loads you want/whether you are home or not/whether you are paying cash or not and many other reasons. He sells more gravel then my brother cause he is cheaper by the load. He usually only hauls half what my brother delivers but is only a $150 cheaper by the load.

My brother hauls a load of gravel a day on a back haul to this guy and he hauls 2 trailer truck or 5/6 bob truck loads out of every trailer truck load he gets but he's cheaper by the load.

 

[tallyho8]

How much might it cost for a gravel driveway 250' long using crusher/run gravel. The driveway would be of normal width. I live in Slaughter, Louisiana. The driveway doesn't need a base, there already is an existing base. Thanks for any help/estimates.....AND for suggestions who to buy from. LK

I just got 60 tons of #57 limestone for my driveway about 90 miles southeast of you. It is an old established driveway with the usual potholes and ruts so I didn't need a base either. The part of mine I did is 635 feet long and about 9 1/2 feet wide.

The limestone costs me $28.50 a ton and the truck driver charged me $50 a trip for 3 trips with a tri-axle since he only had to go 12 miles round-trip.

It was easy to spread with my boxblade and the #57 interlocks pretty well when packed down.

My only question now is whether or not it would be worth it for me to rent a vibratory roller compactor to pack it down and make it smoother. Has anyone here used one of these rollers in this application and what are your recommendations?

 

[RDrancher]

Any gravel driveway will benefit from vibratory compaction. One of the handy features of a drum compactor is the ability to turn the vibrator off or on, and turn on just one drum or both. Slowing down and applying more pressure on high spots will help to even them out as they settle in. Whatever you do, don't stop with the vibrator on (it will create a depression) and always turn the vibrator off when rolling up on concrete (like a driveway apron). It'll break off the edge sooner than you can stop it.