We called it tar and gravel, or sealing a road. I used to do it years ago. I grew up in an area of mostly gravel roads, so anything paved was a luxury, and tar and gravel was almost as good as paved. You were lucky to live on one of these "paved" tar and gravel roads. For the gravel roads, they would usually tar in front of the houses once a year for dust control, but no gravel, so when they tarred a road, you drove thru wet tar for a week and got it all over your vehicles. It's just the way it was, and still is in some areas. Once the tar set up, it was like pavement in front of the house.
I now live in an area of the best roads I have ever seen, and people still complain. The state sealed a road last year with tar and gravel, and people were outraged that it wasn't paved. They have no clue what the roads are like in most of the country. The money wasted recently repaving perfectly good roads in this area is another topic all together.
For the OP, tar and gravel is a good alternative to paving if you don't have the money.
