Repairing a gravel drive - That's a shared access drive

[royster]

Hi,

I'm after some advise about how best to repair our shared access drive.

Ok, a bit of background first..

There are 6 houses that share the drive. It was put in about 5 years ago when the site was developed. I've not measured it fully but its approx 5m wide, and in excess of 400m in two sections. The 1st being about 250m, there's a long straight bit (150m) then a sharp right bend that leads to a bend to the left. The 2nd bit is a left turn from the 1st section about 50m from the start.

The drive is constructed from DTp1, not sure of the depth, but I do remember it going in and would say it is probably 150mm that was rollered and is complete with edges that have been concreted in. The top surface looks like 10mm angular gravel, not sure what but a golden colour (flint? shingle?).

Not all of the drive needs repair, some sections are ok (the base is still intact , tho the gravel has 'thinned out') but others, especially at the entrance, and on the turns are quite bad. We've done quite a bit of maintenance over the years, filling in potholes with DTp1, etc., but after time the potholes naturally re-appear.

Ok, so this weekend we are planning another 'chain gang' to repair the bad sections and this time we intend to hire a twin roller.

So how best to repair the potholes?

Can we just top up with DTp1 and roller, or do we need to dig deeper and then top up?

What size gravel should we use? We were thinking of using 20mm for the main straight as this gets the most traffic, all the cars, delivery vans (if only they drove slower - it might preserve the drive!!), and some other large stuff like the truck that delivers the LPG gas

Any other advise would also be appreciated... (especially how to get some of the delivery vans to slow down! Can you install speed bumps in gravel :;):


Thanks

Roy

PS

I've been using this site for many years... it's been a real help for all the big projects, drainage, pathways, concrete mixes etc.. Thanks!!!

[seanandruby]

I'm afraid that all you can do is repair as you are doing and topping up. have you thought about a resin bound aggregate drive? With 6 families chipping in you would be spreading the costs, then very little maintenance. speed bumps can be installed along with speed signs but are not guaranteed to work. good luck.

[dig dug dan]

make sure you have at least 4" depth on the existing potholes before you fill them. I would roll the whole drive several times, then apply the gravel and roll again.
It should last a while, but the potholes will come back, but not for a while