Gravel Driveway Maintenance thoughts?

[dragoneggs]

Guilty here as I admit I haven't used the search engine but just finished grading my shared gravel driveway. It is sloped and about 1000ft long 14ft wide and develops a bad case of washboard bumps over the course of lousy driving skills mostly by visitors. Anyways we graded, added 5/8in crushed, graded again, watered and then Vibration rolled it. It is very nice now. The neighbors are interested in using some kind of natural binder to cut down dust and maybe lengthen the time between major maintenance. The driveway is crowned nicely and we have great water control along its borders but the washboard bumps are brutal on one of 80+ year neighbor lady who has metal plates in her back. Here is the grader... Aliss Chalmers. Any guesses on year?



Anyways, does anyone have experience with adding natural binder? Looking at applying liquid Magnesium Chloride as one possibility.

 

[sw99]

1963?

 

[dragoneggs]

Does this help?

 

[Snobdds]

I love old iron...I would totally rock that.

 

[oosik]

A great piece of old iron. I see you have found that a motor grader is the best method to maintain a long gravel driveway. Certainly wish I had access to a piece of equipment, such as that, to maintain my mile long gravel driveway. I would guess that it dates back to mid to late 50's.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I have found that on my hill 1/2' crusher run does not cause wash board as much as larger stone. The larger stone wants to roll and ends up wash boarding. Ed

 

[dragoneggs]

I have found that on my hill 1/2' crusher run does not cause wash board as much as larger stone. The larger stone wants to roll and ends up wash boarding. Ed

Used to use 3/4 and found 5/8 better. Not sure if we have 1/2 crushed available here. Will have to check for next time.

Anyone using binders???

 

[oosik]

When the Alaska Highway(Alcan) was still gravel most of the road districts used some type of liquid binder on the gravel road. It was some type of salt solution because a lot of the wildlife - particularly Rocky Mt Bighorn sheep - would stand on the road and lick the gravel/dirt to get the salt.

What a surprise - you're whizzing along - come around a corner - and there stands 20 to 30 bighorn sheep right in the middle of the road. And they are in no real hurry to move either. Made night time driving a real heart stopper.

I don't know if the binder they used helped any - the first year we were in AK(1960) we drove up in a VW and some of the pot holes were almost as big as the VW.

 

[JerryK]

Once you get it just the way you want it, you could have it brined.. They put brine on our dusty gravel roads two or three times a summer up here where I live. Years ago, we just used old motor oil. But they frown on that these days. Our back roads down state had so much oil on them they hardened up like blacktop... sure burnt/blackened the bottoms of your feet when you walked to the local beach after you got your chores done..

 

[crash325]

Simple soulition.

Get gravel damp ( not wet ) roll& tamp & you are done
Should last a long time.
Of course the better the road, the faster people drive,