Gravel Parking Area

[oosik]

When the contractor built my driveway - some 30+ - years ago, a lot of folks thought he was doing unnecessary work - removing the topsoil. You see, ALL of my driveway is built up from a solid basaltic lava base. A lot of it required no overburden removal because the bedrock was exposed and some required as much as a foot of overburden removal to get to the bedrock. Then there is a section - about 100 feet - where there is no bottom. That's the section that gives me problems for about two weeks every spring. I think you would strike oil before bedrock in that section.

But I don't complain - its held up well, with minimum maintenance for all that time. Hey, its good enough to get cement trucks into my house and not do any damage.

 

[jlgurr]

I think permafrost is its own unique animal and has to be treated as such. That was a very impressive feat and I give those guys full credit. Building a "floating" road is nonsense. The weight of the traffic must be carried to the earth/bedrock. Those layers of soils have different weight bearing capacities and angles at which that load is distributed through the profile. This is all affected but the pore pressure of the water changing with varying moisture levels. So constructing a surface that is going to have minimal movement has to transfer that wheel load in some fashion by distributing that higher psi load at the surface and spread the load out to the lower psi that the subsonic can support. Pretty simple. This can be accomplished with varying depths of rock, competent soil, or engineered geotextiles. But go ahead and "float" your road Glyford....

Think 'Ice road truckers...'

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[RedNeckRacin]

......

As far as the topic; I'd go with Redneckracin's plan because it sounds like he knows what he's talking about.:thumbsup:

Thanks cat fever! I thought I was going to have to get my text books out.

Think 'Ice road truckers...'

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Well that would be a good example except they have to completely rebuild that road every year and spend thousands if not millions of dollars to do it. Plus, it's impassable in the summer unless you have an air boat.

 

[oosik]

Man, Oh, Man - is this where certain unnamed "reality" shows really put a real "wild Alaska" spin on things.

The Alaska Haul road - Alaska Ice road, etc, etc - is Officially known as the James W. Dalton Hwy OR Alaska Route 11.

I rode my Harley Davidson all the way to Deadhorse - the terminus at Prudhoe Bay in August of 2007.

It was not an easy ride because it was just a gravel road and subject to all the frailties of such a road in that environment.

The road is some 415 miles long and goes from Livengood (NW of Fairbanks, AK) to Deadhorse, AK - which is on the shores of Prudhoe Bay.

I lived in Anchorage while this road was being built and was able to see its progress via weekly news reports on local TV.

 

[Got2BTru]

OK I'm no expert on the Bible, but memory tells me it was Jonah and the whale not Noah. Noah might have seen some whales after he built the ark and it started to float.

As far as the topic; I'd go with Redneckracin's plan because it sounds like he knows what he's talking about.:thumbsup:

Uh...that would be correct. JONAH and the whale. Too funny!

We bought 32 acres that used to be farm fields/grazing, etc. When we had the driveway put in, he dug down 8-12" to a clay-like material.

They then came in and backfilled with what he called a "bony" material. It seemed to be a mix of larger rocks, clay and smaller stones. He said this was the "sub-base".

The driveway looks really good - though not consistent (material-wise) the entire length. There are some "soft spots" along the way, where the tire tread will sink slightly when wet. My concern is should I raise it higher before putting the next layer in? And then my next "question" will be what the next layer will consist of? I'm assuming a 3" Crusher Run?

 

[bdog]

I am in the Texas panhandle so it is probably a lot different here than other places. I have a gravel area probably 250' x 150' in front of my shops where we park trucks, trailers, implements etc. It was naturally level and had grass growing on it. I sprayed it with roundup to kill everything and mowed it as low as I could with a riding mower and then put crusher run on it 3" thick. This material is crushed up bricks, concerte, granite counter tops, asphalt etc. The pieces are mostly golf ball to marble sized and are all different shapes. It packs together very well. I did this five years ago and have had no problems with it. I drive on it with concrete trucks, 18 wheelers, dump trucks, etc and have never had any ruts. I use a chain harrow behind my atv to smooth out the surface from time as my tracked skid steer makes a mess when turning.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I am in the Texas panhandle so it is probably a lot different here than other places. I have a gravel area probably 250' x 150' in front of my shops where we park trucks, trailers, implements etc. It was naturally level and had grass growing on it. I sprayed it with roundup to kill everything and mowed it as low as I could with a riding mower and then put crusher run on it 3" thick. This material is crushed up bricks, concerte, granite counter tops, asphalt etc. The pieces are mostly golf ball to marble sized and are all different shapes. It packs together very well. I did this five years ago and have had no problems with it. I drive on it with concrete trucks, 18 wheelers, dump trucks, etc and have never had any ruts. I use a chain harrow behind my atv to smooth out the surface from time as my tracked skid steer makes a mess when turning.

Your base must be similar to mine. No need to remove anything, just put on your basic gravel top and it stays put year round. Only thing I have to work with is water rushing down the hills and moving the gravel to the bottom so I have to drag it back up after flood type rains. Anything less than 2" gets washed away otherwise it stays rut free if you give it 30 minutes after a rain to drain and dry. I find that Shale rock (common and cheap here) works good for a base but you have to cover it to keep the sun off or it deteriorates to dust in a few years. Kept in the dark, it last forever.

 

[bdog]

Probably is similar. The key is I don't have any low spots that collect water. If you are trying to make a driveway or a parking area on top of a mud hole it is going to take a lot more site prep or different materials.