Repairing private road: gravel and huge holes

[King_s_Ransom]

We live at the end of about 1/4 mile private road (not maintained by the city or county). We have four other neighbors on the road, but they aren’t going to do anything to help with the maintenance.

A few years ago we pitched in with one other neighbor (who has now moved away) to purchase gravel, but they had ALL of the gravel put in front of their house … so not keen on pitching in together with anyone anyway.

We’ve decided that it’s gotten so bad we are just going to suck up the expense and try to repair the holes and then pay someone to do routine maintenance on it twice a year (spring and fall).

I do have a guy who has said he will do the work, but I’d like to get some input from anyone who has been in this situation before about the best way to first repair the huge holes and then maintain the road ongoing. Partially because I just want to know, and because I want to be sure we are getting a good job from the guy we’re paying to do the work.

Any advice / input much appreciated. Thanks!

[Bluey]

Did you check with your county?

Here they do maintenance on public roads, at a cost.

You pay them so much per hour and they will grade your road just as they do the county ones.
You will still have to furnish the gravel if some is missing, but that should not be too much or too often, if it is kept up well.

Go ask your county commissioner, they may have such programs in your county.

[MistyBlue]

I have a long shared driveway too. I’m the first property on it, my neighbor behind is the only other property.
He has a much long stretch of driveway, he’s about 850’ from the road give or take a bit. My house is about 360’ from the road. But I also have a big horseshoe turnaround in front of my house, a large parking area there, a forked driveway off of the main one downhill to another large gravel area for parking with the tractor garage and then off of that downhill to the barn. All in all I have a good chunk over 1000’ of gravel drive to maintain. And since we get tons of water washing down it all the time, we always get potholes, gulleys, washouts and a few times it’s looked like the damned Grand Canyon, LOL!

A few years back we bought a TR3 rake…one of the best investments we’ve made. It’s used most often on the drive, we can drop the teeth on it and grade the snot out of the driveway in a short time. The blade can be used for levelling and filling in potholes and can pack it back down with the tractor. The rake works great even with my teeny tiny little 2320 tractor, but that’s probably the smallest hp I’d use for that rake, it’s heavy as hell and anything smaller might not be able to yank it through a driveway.

Fun thing about that rake is that I can also make new trails through the woods with it, turning heavy undergrowth into groomed trail in two passes, it rips everything up and then smooths it out. But I can also use it in my riding ring and not harm the base. And I use it a lot for quick drainage fixes. I can flip all the teeth up and keep just one or two down and drive where I want the water to run and create quick little drainage ditches.

The convenient part is that if I notice a few new potholes after a heavy rain or some wicked deep tire ruts when the driveway is soft or after the snow melts in winter and there’s a mess underneath, I can pop the rake on the tractor and spend 30-60 minutes doing a quick grade on it and repair it in spare time without having to take an entire day with big machinery.

[Guilherme]

Check with an attorney on state or local laws that govern private roads. Also check the deeds of the properties along the road and see if they say anything about maintenance. You might get a pleasant surprise or you might not.

Good luck in your project.

G.

[clanter]

have no idea as to your location but here a road that was not up to a standard is safety problem regarding the safety and welfare of the residents. When I was on Planning and Zoning applications for permits had to meet minimum standards and accessibility was one

If the road is not accessible by fire or emergency response equipment the certificates of occupy possibly could be revoked for the residences.

Primary concern is safety and welfare of the people.

[Mosey_2003]

Grade it. Add rock. Grade again. Repeat grading occasionally.

[baytraks]

We have a 3/4 mile long gravel driveway in an easement shared with two farmers and one other residential home. No one else has chipped in for the maintenance over the 18 years we have been here, but when we ran a boarding operation we figured we used it most. Bought the TR-3 rake a few years ago, and it makes driveway maintenance SO much better. Part of the key is to smooth the potholes as soon as they appear, before they become monsters. The other is to do the work when the driveway is a bit wet; makes for easy grading. But like MistyBlue posted above, I find the TR-3 is the ideal tool for the job. It is still necessary to buy a load or two of aggregate or crushcrete every few years to add to the stone.

[Scribbler]

Our club gets our prviate driveway done every year, but it seems to me that the potholes come back right away. I wonder if we are not grading deeply enough, just filling in with gravel?

[Mosey_2003]

Yep, Scribbler. Wait for a wet day and grade deeper around the holes.

[keysfins]

[QUOTE=MistyBlue;8561970]
I have a long shared driveway too. I’m the first property on it, my neighbor behind is the only other property.
He has a much long stretch of driveway, he’s about 850’ from the road give or take a bit. My house is about 360’ from the road. But I also have a big horseshoe turnaround in front of my house, a large parking area there, a forked driveway off of the main one downhill to another large gravel area for parking with the tractor garage and then off of that downhill to the barn. All in all I have a good chunk over 1000’ of gravel drive to maintain. And since we get tons of water washing down it all the time, we always get potholes, gulleys, washouts and a few times it’s looked like the damned Grand Canyon, LOL!

A few years back we bought a TR3 rake…one of the best investments we’ve made. It’s used most often on the drive, we can drop the teeth on it and grade the snot out of the driveway in a short time. The blade can be used for levelling and filling in potholes and can pack it back down with the tractor. The rake works great even with my teeny tiny little 2320 tractor, but that’s probably the smallest hp I’d use for that rake, it’s heavy as hell and anything smaller might not be able to yank it through a driveway.

Fun thing about that rake is that I can also make new trails through the woods with it, turning heavy undergrowth into groomed trail in two passes, it rips everything up and then smooths it out. But I can also use it in my riding ring and not harm the base. And I use it a lot for quick drainage fixes. I can flip all the teeth up and keep just one or two down and drive where I want the water to run and create quick little drainage ditches.

The convenient part is that if I notice a few new potholes after a heavy rain or some wicked deep tire ruts when the driveway is soft or after the snow melts in winter and there’s a mess underneath, I can pop the rake on the tractor and spend 30-60 minutes doing a quick grade on it and repair it in spare time without having to take an entire day with big machinery.[/QUOTE]

I think I have rake envy, and I don’t even have a driveway! :lol:

Photos of said rake, please, or a link?

[vineyridge]

Down here they sell a kind of crushed rock called 6-10. It’s a mixture of medium crushed limestone and lime rock dust. It costs about $50 a ton, and they will deliver if you buy a 40 or 50 ton truckload. It’s better than concrete. It hardens into a very smooth, hard surface and is easy to grade if it has problems. About every five years or so, I have to buy a couple of tons to level it out, but it’s about as good as you can get. I seem to recall that decades ago we put 6-10 over the old river gravel (smooth, red rock) road base.

The stuff is absolutely amazing.

[AKB]

Our neighborhood used asphalt millings/recycled asphalt pieces to repair the gravel road. They were free except for shipping, and have lasted longer than gravel.

[Mosey_2003]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;8563170]
Down here they sell a kind of crushed rock called 6-10. It’s a mixture of medium crushed limestone and lime rock dust. It costs about $50 a ton, and they will deliver if you buy a 40 or 50 ton truckload. It’s better than concrete. It hardens into a very smooth, hard surface and is easy to grade if it has problems. About every five years or so, I have to buy a couple of tons to level it out, but it’s about as good as you can get. I seem to recall that decades ago we put 6-10 over the old river gravel (smooth, red rock) road base.

The stuff is absolutely amazing.[/QUOTE]
Are you serious?!?!?!

Is that $50/ton including the delivery? Still… ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

We sell CA-6 (which is your limestone with fines) for $8.95/ton, and we’re considered the highway robbery quarry. Delivery is usually $6-$8 per ton, depending on how far.

And your trucks will really haul 40-50 tons? I’m pretty sure we can’t even get 30 tons IN a truck, let alone be legal, it’s usually 25 at the highest.

Wow… That’s awful!

[wildlifer]

[QUOTE=AKB;8563322]
Our neighborhood used asphalt millings/recycled asphalt pieces to repair the gravel road. They were free except for shipping, and have lasted longer than gravel.[/QUOTE]

My 0.3 mi driveway is in large part an easement through my neighbour’s property, since I bought his back pastures & built. He did a large part of it (he uses it as well & maintains it back to my turn off, which takes care of most of it) with recycled/surplus asphalt, it’s great.

Ours was free as he knows a guy (he knows ALL the guys) with DOT & when they have a truck at the end of the day that needs dumping, they just dump it on us! Key is making sure it’s warm when you work it (neighbour has big skidsteer, it’s too heavy for my ~30hp FEL tractor). It packs down & seals together fast.

I need to fix my part, I just need a human clone to provide the time, sigh.

[vineyridge]

I think much of the cost is from having to ship it here from somewhere that has limestone. It seems to come in barges on the Mississippi River straight to the local river port from somewhere quite far away. Price is not delivered. I know I spent $500 about ten years ago and that paid for one very large dump truck load. The last I got went into the 6 1/2 ft bed of my F250 and cost with tax $56 last fall, and I picked it up at the port.

[Mosey_2003]

That’s really unfortunate