Gravel - Driveway Question

[Tractor_Jim_CT]

Need to use my BX23 to fix the following:

We have a long 700 foot shared driveway that manages to develope large pot holes that get filled with more gravel and come back.

I'm in New England. Is there a mixture that I can use with gravel or steps to take to prevent these large potholes from coming back. Neighbors don't want to tar.

Thanks for any thoughts

/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[KiotiJohn]

I suspect the best way to repair them is to actually tear them down. In other words, use a box blade with rippers to break down the sides of the potholes, dragging surrounding materials into the holes and mixing it up a bit. Often, it's best to remix the area around where the pot holes are located so that when you're finished, you have a mixture that will harden up again. You need to crown that road so that the water runs off as well. Drag the gravel up from the sides toward the center rounding off the whole road like a slight semicircle or half barrel upside down. Otherwise, you'll just keep having the same problem.
I'm sure others will be able to give you more details on this, and go to the search, select greater than one year and enter gravel road, or gravel driveway etc. to find the many posts that have been done on this subject. John

 

[johan3400]

John gave you a good guide. The only thing I would add is to use the ripper teeth on your box blade and rip up the whole drive and then follow John's instructions.

 

[beenthere]

My take on gravel drives is to tear it up, mix it all together, redistribute the mix with the crown built in, and pack it tight before it dries out. If you have gravel, or get new gravel, make sure there are fines in it as well as the stones. The fines will help hold the packed gravel together. I pack it tight with many trips back and forth with the car or truck. I leave no area unpacked. Makes for a great drive.
Some locations you cannot get anything but the stones, and it is just like trying to spread and drive on marbles.

I don't like rakes, because they roll the stones to the top and let the fines disappear beneath, thus making it smooth but with the 'marbles' on top to roll away. Just my take, however. Others have different opinions, and the cost is the same. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Egon]

Ah - but the rakes make the gravel driveway look so nice as long as no one drives on it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon

 

[hhw]

We have put in quite a few gravel drives/lanes for customers. It's always easier starting fresh. Depending on the customers needs and budget the project varies from a layer of ballast, a layer of 3/4" and "packing run" (3/4" on down to dust) to something as simple as excavate and lay "crusher run." No matter what, compaction is necessary.

It seems that winter always takes a toll on the roadway. Some of our customers opt for rip and tear each year, some opt for spot maintenance at the end of winter.

One customer opts to drag his rear blade (facing backward, which is how he clears snow) along the lane redistrbuting the loose or disturbed stone, leveling as much as possible and having me deliver crusher run for spot maintenance.

No matter what you do gravel drives/lanes require maintenace regularly, but in certain rural environments they "fit" better than asphalt.

 

[Freds]

To no one inparticular...

I put down some 411 last fall on my drive. It held up very well through the winter, but some of the crown disappeared due to everyone's wheels driving in the same spot I imagine. Where the tires travelled got compacted a bit more than all the driving I did on the other spots.

Anyway, I was going to angle my rear blade and pull some of the stuff on the sides of the drive, that doesn't appear to be very compacted, up onto the drive and try to reshape the crown. My question is: Is this basically a waste of time because the area where I would be distributing this material is already compacted? After reading how potholes should be enlarged before being repaired (so the filler has something to bind to), it seems like I would be doing the same thing only on a larger scale.
I sure hate to loosen everything up to get my crown back because I am not looking at any potholes now and it's still quite smooth.

Any thoughts on this?
Thanks

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

The best material I have found for my drive is asphault millings. When these machines grind off the surface of an asphault road the residual millings are poor mans asphault. I got some off of a runway job 8 years ago and it turned into a paved road. Other millings of lesser quality require yearly grading. Prepping the surface by smoothing the road(no potholes) is good advice regardless of the material used.

 

[Surge]

Do all of the above, when it is completed....

Have a road contractor come in and spray a liquid coating of either Magnesium Chloride or Calcium Chloride....

This material causes the mixture, especially the fines to bond together and create not only a dust control mechanism but also a water repellent barrier feature that will cause the water to run off..... This will hold the road bed in place... You will be amazed... If you can have it "rolled in" meaning a heavy roller going over after it is applied, once it drys it is like you are driving on asphalt....

The material recharges itself when it gets wet.... make sure the road bed is in good shape with the potholes filled and somewhat packed down... Have this done in the spring and it will last all year.... Plowing and scaping will disturb the application so it really should be done every year...

For 700 feet, I would imagine it will cost about $300 - $500 dollars..... just a guess based on Nebraska prices...

If you need help in finding someone, generally your county road department has leads on folks that do this.... We have it done on our county road and it is great, especially since we have limestone on the road which is quite dusty..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[JDFANATIC]

Tractor Jim,

Boy does your story sound a lot like mine used to be -- right down to the state. I also share a driveway with a neighbor, that for 14 years was gravel. I used a York rake with a fold down grader blade and each year it got progressively worse. The other posters are right that you can't fill pot holes, but must dig them out. Anyway, after bringing in a load of processed stone/dust each year (part of the drive has some significant slope issues) and having to rake the stones out of the lawn each spring, I finally talked my neighbor into paving it. Even they will admit now that it was the best thing we ever did. Our cars are cleaner, our homes are cleaner, clearing snow is as enjoyable as cleaning snow can be, heck it's even quieter. For us we paid $15K for 10,510 s.f. including the landscaping/new topsoil and seeding of the sides. Anyway, I know how it is working with neighbors on a decision such as this, but just keep my .02 in mind. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif