Expert: Dan Griffin - 5/2/2008

Question
We have had a third car driveway just installed. My question is that the city will only allow a two car ( 18
feet max). wide approach to any single home, So my drive way has an angle going to the thyroid drive way. I am allowed to compact gravel between the  street and the third driveway . Which is the best gravel to use, and will i need a compactor to make this last. I live in southern Ohio and we have had bad winters from time to time, which means snow removal. Is there any product out there , that i can put down.that won't require year to year maintenance. (I.E., a gravel that once compacted is hard , and I wont have to keep adding to each year. This third drive was added to park my truck. ( Semi Tractor. weight approve. 32,000 lbs.

Answer
Jeff, I am a bit surprised that your AHJ will allow gravel fill, but I assume you have checked this out.  Here are a few ideas:

Excavate about 12", lay down geotextile cloth, install rip rap (3" stone, broken concrete, cement bricks) about 6 to 8", top with "crusher run" (1 1/2 to dust) watered and compacted.

Geotextile, coarse gravel so that it is 7" below desired finish grade, an open grid of cement blocks with the wide side down and holes open tot he top, fill half full with gravel, top off with crusher run or top soil and grass.

Depends a lot on what you have to haul with.  Concrete companies sell "washout".  When the trucks go back in, they dump and wash out the drums before adding a new load.  This stuff is quite variable based on how old it is, etc.; it may have big set up chunks or still be like the concrete you would order (we've gotten some that was hard to keep in the dump truck)  The cost is minimal.  This stuff will set up harder than poured concrete with compaction and age.  Did our construction yard with this stuff over swampy loam - anywhere from 6 ot 24".  A backhoe can dig it, but it sure doesn't like to.  This stuff is holding up heavier stuff than yours.