Dirt Driveway - Looking for assistance with ruts

CMV · Apr 26, 2018

Local large commercial construction outfit in my area has a yard where they sell crushed concrete. A load is 2/3 the cost of regular crusher run gravel. Comes in different sizes. One is about size of lemons, other they call ABC but is over half fines. Since it is more "jagged" than stone, really locks in place. Then the smaller stuff with all the fines settles in and once it gets wet and compacted gets pretty hard. Just something to consider if you're looking at umpteen triaxle loads of crusher run and the price tag on that. As long as whoever selling it does a good job of screening it with a magnet, seems to be a good lower cost alternative for me.

On the grading itself....I'm the only property owner who maintains the private road leading to all our land. It is perfectly flat and level. So I'm constantly battling new pot holes from standing water. Almost 1/2 mile long and none of that on my property so I'm not about to change the geography and grade it another way. But once I've filled a hole twice with the ABC/fines crushed concrete, it doesn't come back. A new one will form nearby, but it seems to work at keeping fixed spots fixed. I don't mind dragging a box blade over it a few times a year or dumping half a load of material every once in a while since I use the road frequently, but with none of the others pitching in with time or $, I pretty much do bare minimum upkeep.

Streetcar · Apr 26, 2018

Crushed concrete will tend to deteriorate if exposed to repeated wetting and loading

fried1765 · Apr 26, 2018

airbiscuit said:
Why can't you take any trees off the right side of your drive? Is it a property line?

Best to approach this by getting back to the basics:

Water will go where water wants to go

Be a fanatic about about your driveway contours and elevation so there never any standing water. That can mean a crown, roadbed sloped to one side, deep enough ditches, swales, etc. Whatever you decide, it probably has to be a little more pronounced than you first think.

Have good material on the roadbed

I will leave it to others to chime in on base, fabric, gravel, etc. That said, get the contours and ditching/swales right first. Standing water is your enemy.