Gravel driveway upkeep?

[JimS]

I have two different gravel roads:

The main one from the house gets moderate use. About 600 feet long. No big base under it that I remember (should have at the time it was put in about 10 years ago...). There were a few soft spots but more gravel firmed them up. I have a bit of weeds and uneven edges. I try to drive on different spots, mostly not down the main center because that is where others drive. I have read that working the gravel with a box blade will keep down the weeds and a rain will wash the fines down into the gravel. Seems like that might work for this road. Might help the edges too. Have sprayed the edges but the weeds just come back and leave uneven edges. Seems like spraying kills the good and the bad and makes it easier for the weeds to come back.

The other one gets very little use - probably a trip a week or something like that. Only about 300 feet to a field. It's along the bottom of a hill and water sometimes has flowed over the top before I got a ditch put in so lots of dirt and fines in the gravel. It does have big base underneath. Recent work on the ditch put more dirt on the road and now I have lots of grass. Thinking of just letting it go to grass and keeping it mowed. If I use the box blade I am likely to turn up some of the bit rock underneath. I could put on more gravel but it seems like it will probably be a constant battle with so little traffic. I could spray the weeds but I would have to keep doing that too.

Looking for some advice on upkeep for these. Base soil is mostly clay but reasonably well drained.

 

[CobyRupert]

I found this advice on the internet (Google phrase 's to find complete .pdf) I agree with it, a road's only as good as it's ditches: "
There’s an old saying that the three most important elements in road maintenance are drainage, drainage, and drainage.
Water on or under the roadway is the single most significant cause of dam- age to the roadway. Problems related to water include rutting, cracking, potholes, erosion, washouts, heaving, flooding, and premature failure of the roadway.
To prevent these problems and help ensure a roadway achieves its designed service life, you need to do three things:
• Get water off the road.
• Get water out of the road.
• Get water away from the road"

 

[PoorPlowboy]

A box blade is more effective as an initial rough-in tool for driveways and spreading material. A landplane will do more refined maintenance and leveling without pulling as much material. The only way to keep weeds out is to spray or turn the gravel over occasionally.

A two-track drive is appealing to many rural folks and if you're happy with the firmness, letting it go to grass isn't a bad option per say. The only real way to keep clearly defined borders is to install borders and RoundUp the perimeter. Many use retired railroad ties for this purpose.

 

[lockhaven]

best way to keep a gravel road in good shape.....drive slow

 

[OZisKTB]

Don't know where you live, but here the type of gravel also matters. Two common choices, brown (sand) stone and limestone. Brown is cheaper and looks OK. Disappears after a couple of years, grinding to sand. Reworking with box blade covers up remaining gravel with sand and underlying clay. Kills a road with a few more years on it. Limestone looks great, and last a long time. Dark grey here. You can recover some with a box blade and work it back into a driveway.

 

[oosik]

My driveway is a mile long gravel. I move larger amounts of gravel with the FEL or roll-over box blade. I maintain the driveway with the land plane grading scraper. My gravel is crushed basaltic lava. I think the only thing harder than this gravel is diamond. I sure wouldn't worry about any weeds - the root structure will help stabilize the sides of the driveway and trying to permanently eliminate it will eventually drain your bank account.

I keep the driveway kinda lumpy & bumpy - keeps traffic going slow and cuts down on dust. My driveway is straight as an arrow and initially folks would go 40-45 on it. By grading in the lumps & bumps it slows them down. They complain - I just smile.

 

[RDrancher]

The single best tool for gravel driveway maintenance is a land plane grading blade. Hands down. I have one, but most of the gravel driveways I work on are past the point of any type of maintenance by the time I get called out, so I regrade with a box blade and add gravel.

 

[2manyrocks]

Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies

Vehicles and nature move gravel around. Therefore, the edges won't be tidy over time.

Plenty of good info in the tech bulletins at PennState.

 

[boggen]

3pt stuff...
rear blade = able to angle and bring rock/gravel from edge back into center

landscape rake / york rake = just like rear blade to angle stuff, but it has tines, other words a hand held metal garden rake, but sized for a 3pt hitch for a tractor. if ya plow in winter and put rocks in yard, this might be something for ya.

box blade = can not angle it like a rear blade or landscape rake, but moves/pulls dirt around to help fill in areas. box blades normally come with "scraficers" or rather teeth that you can sink down into the dirt to bust up the hard compacted stuff. the scraficers some times come on rear blades.

LPGS (land plane grader scrapper) = this is more of a sifter in a sense. it brings rocks up, and let the fines go down.

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TNT (top and tilt) while not a 3pt hitch implement, replacing the top link on 3pt hitch with a hydraulic cylinder, and then replacing either 1 or both side turn buckles on 3pt hitch with hydraulic cylinders. this allows for more fine tuning and feather of the implements. and allows you to put crowns on dirt / gravel roads much easier. more so if you have a curvy driveways.

FEL (front end loader) with general duty bucket, back dragging can do a lot, but box blade would win out. due to ability to angle up and down on either side, and tilt the box blade.

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with above said. tend to see folks with at least 1 3pt hitch notation up above, but see more folks wanting or going for at least TWO 3pt hitch units mentioned above to get themselves squared away and to have majority of what needs to be done covered on road maintenance.

again a mix and match there no wrong or right way, everyone situation is different, and so are the roads / driveways.
check out Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer they have a lot of videos and good amount of text. going over various implements. it might help ya figure stuff out. vs trying to search google for stuff.

 

[clemsonfor]

What is the problem with the grass growing on the lesser used road? it will firm it up and keep the fines in place better.

You also if you dont want weeds you can use herbicide with Imazapyur in it and it will keep everything from coming back for a few months. There are several long term acting herbicides.