I just finished my fall grading of our driveway, and in light of all the discussions on this topic from time to time I thought I'd share the challenges involved.
The driveway is gravel, a quarter mile long, and gains 150 ft. in elevation, for an average grade of 14%, though it's not uniform and some parts are steeper. The top is at 3,500 ft. elevation, in the Blue Ridge in western North Carolina, so we get snow and/or ice most years, but highly variable. We also get heavy rains from time to time, so washing is an issue. Parts drain to both sides and other parts all to one side.
The objectives in grading are to recover the gravel thrown to the side by traffic and in the process eliminate the depressed tire tracks that cause water to run down the road instead of off to the side, and to remove wash-boarding that develops at several points. I know there are strong partisans in support of various attachments for this task, but I use just a rear angle blade on my JD 870. This time I made one pass up each side to move the gravel into the center, then a pass back-blading to spread it off the center into the tracks, and one final round trip with the back-blade to touch up parts that still needed a little help.
There is little loose gravel - it's all packed or it would toss quickly with traffic. I wait until there's enough rain to make it easy to cut where needed and to re-pack quickly.
Knowing that it "didn't happen without pictures," here's the photos. Starting at the bottom, off the paved road.
This section drains to both sides, and is pretty steep. It wash-boards badly on the right side on the straightaway for some reason. The challenge is to grade out the wash-boards without destroying the shallow drain just above the planter. It wash-boards on the left side in the corner, but that's less of a problem to grade out.
This section is less steep, but has a shallow "S" curve, and transitions to a right-side drain only.
This section is not too steep, but drains only to the right, so has to be graded flat across so the water runs into the ditch and not down the road. This section was a state road until abandoned 40 years ago, and we only own the right half, so can't re-grade the left side.
You can see the old road continuing straight while our drive turns to the right. The curve is fairly steep, and wash-boards badly on the right side. I also have to take care to not cut a ditch past the shallow drain at the lower right corner of the photo.
This section drains to both sides, and is fairly steep. It faces north-west so even with the leaves off snow and ice doesn't melt well, so the tire tracks need to be graded out so if it snows it can be plowed clean.
This little section is nearly level, so presents a challenge to adjust the depth of the blade both coming onto it, and going out into the curve beyond.
This section is steep and is shaded by the pines, so snow doesn't melt well here either, so again the tire tracks need to be graded out to facilitate snow plowing.
This curve at the top is pretty steep and the inside wash-boards noticeably. It's banked, so there is a transition from crowned to banked and back to crowned.
We're at the top. The ditch on the right tends to fill with gravel that has to be recovered, and the parking area on the left accumulates gravel from plowing snow that has to be returned, but otherwise not much problem. End of tour.
Terry
The driveway is gravel, a quarter mile long, and gains 150 ft. in elevation, for an average grade of 14%, though it's not uniform and some parts are steeper. The top is at 3,500 ft. elevation, in the Blue Ridge in western North Carolina, so we get snow and/or ice most years, but highly variable. We also get heavy rains from time to time, so washing is an issue. Parts drain to both sides and other parts all to one side.
The objectives in grading are to recover the gravel thrown to the side by traffic and in the process eliminate the depressed tire tracks that cause water to run down the road instead of off to the side, and to remove wash-boarding that develops at several points. I know there are strong partisans in support of various attachments for this task, but I use just a rear angle blade on my JD 870. This time I made one pass up each side to move the gravel into the center, then a pass back-blading to spread it off the center into the tracks, and one final round trip with the back-blade to touch up parts that still needed a little help.
There is little loose gravel - it's all packed or it would toss quickly with traffic. I wait until there's enough rain to make it easy to cut where needed and to re-pack quickly.
Knowing that it "didn't happen without pictures," here's the photos. Starting at the bottom, off the paved road.
This section drains to both sides, and is pretty steep. It wash-boards badly on the right side on the straightaway for some reason. The challenge is to grade out the wash-boards without destroying the shallow drain just above the planter. It wash-boards on the left side in the corner, but that's less of a problem to grade out.
This section is less steep, but has a shallow "S" curve, and transitions to a right-side drain only.
This section is not too steep, but drains only to the right, so has to be graded flat across so the water runs into the ditch and not down the road. This section was a state road until abandoned 40 years ago, and we only own the right half, so can't re-grade the left side.
You can see the old road continuing straight while our drive turns to the right. The curve is fairly steep, and wash-boards badly on the right side. I also have to take care to not cut a ditch past the shallow drain at the lower right corner of the photo.
This section drains to both sides, and is fairly steep. It faces north-west so even with the leaves off snow and ice doesn't melt well, so the tire tracks need to be graded out so if it snows it can be plowed clean.
This little section is nearly level, so presents a challenge to adjust the depth of the blade both coming onto it, and going out into the curve beyond.
This section is steep and is shaded by the pines, so snow doesn't melt well here either, so again the tire tracks need to be graded out to facilitate snow plowing.
This curve at the top is pretty steep and the inside wash-boards noticeably. It's banked, so there is a transition from crowned to banked and back to crowned.
We're at the top. The ditch on the right tends to fill with gravel that has to be recovered, and the parking area on the left accumulates gravel from plowing snow that has to be returned, but otherwise not much problem. End of tour.
Terry
Last edited:
