Getting driveway paved, who to call?

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:54 pm

I'm going to be paving (concrete) my driveway in the spring and was wondering if anyone had any good experiences with local concrete contractors in the last few years.

Doing maintenance on two cars on a gravel driveway is getting old quick!

thanks!
Matt

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:00 pm

Matt McGrain wrote:

I'm going to be paving (concrete) my driveway in the spring and was wondering if anyone had any good experiences with local concrete contractors in the last few years.

Doing maintenance on two cars on a gravel driveway is getting old quick!

thanks!
Matt

Don't know of anyone specific, but black top/asphalt will be cheaper if you don't have covenants to worry about.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:23 pm

Michael Westerfield wrote:

Matt McGrain wrote:

I'm going to be paving (concrete) my driveway in the spring and was wondering if anyone had any good experiences with local concrete contractors in the last few years.

Doing maintenance on two cars on a gravel driveway is getting old quick!

thanks!
Matt

Don't know of anyone specific, but black top/asphalt will be cheaper if you don't have covenants to worry about.

Thanks Mike. I thought about that but car jacks make indentations in blacktop. Don't ask me how I know... :wink:

I'm always game for saving money though.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:59 pm

If you are getting concrete, quit using the word "paving". It will confuse people.

Asphalt pays my bills, but my current driveway (and driveway under construction) will be concrete. Asphalt is just not suited well for parking stuff.

Asphalt whore since 1997

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Ryan Holton wrote:

If you are getting concrete, quit using the word "paving". It will confuse people.

Asphalt pays my bills, but my current driveway (and driveway under construction) will be concrete. Asphalt is just not suited well for parking stuff.

Asphalt whore since 1997

Ryan - as an aside/hijack, can you briefly explain what (if any) requirements and specifications there are for NCDOT and/or city/county contracts for asphalt road smoothness? Some of the re-paved roads around here in Cary and Western Wake county have been driving me absolutely crazy with how freaking bumpy they are, and I have always wondered if the contractors are actually being paid for such crappy work. I hope there are some standards in place or at least incentives for contractors to actually build smooth roads.

Just curious

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:51 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Ryan Holton wrote:

If you are getting concrete, quit using the word "paving". It will confuse people.

Asphalt pays my bills, but my current driveway (and driveway under construction) will be concrete. Asphalt is just not suited well for parking stuff.

Asphalt whore since 1997

Ryan - as an aside/hijack, can you briefly explain what (if any) requirements and specifications there are for NCDOT and/or city/county contracts for asphalt road smoothness? Some of the re-paved roads around here in Cary and Western Wake county have been driving me absolutely crazy with how freaking bumpy they are, and I have always wondered if the contractors are actually being paid for such crappy work. I hope there are some standards in place or at least incentives for contractors to actually build smooth roads.

Just curious

Good question! Warning this may get a bit boring to some

There are NCDOT specifications regarding "rideability" but they are only generally applied to "new" construction (ie next section of 540). When we have a rideabliity specification, we have to go back after paving is complete and drag a machine that takes a profile of the road. When the DOT was showing this "profilagraph" machine to contractors. They would take it out in the hallway and most hallways would NOT pass the test. Its pretty damn tough.

Otherwise it is up to the NCDOT inspectors and engineers to approve a section of road after paving. This is VERY subjective because we can only do so much, the condition of the existing road plays a large part in the finish of the new surface.

I digress, do you remember the condition of the roads BEFORE they were resurfaced? Had the DOT went thru and crack sealed the large cracks in the road? Was there a "rough" surface where the DOT placed essentially rock and tar that was real messy at first and rode like crap later?

Im gonna guess it was the former because the DOT LOVES them some crack sealing. This crack sealing is the DEATH of new pavement IF its not prepped properly. What happens is when the paver is placing the ~250° asphalt on the bare crack sealing material on the road, it obviously gets heated up by the asphalt, this crack sealing material starts to expand pretty rapidly causing a bump in the new surface mat. There is NOTHING that will fix this. Once it cools the crack sealing material does not shrink back to its original size.

So really it boils down to whether the DOT has the $$$$ to properly prepare the existing surface prior to paving. If not, it matter not what the contractors do, the road is doomed :cry:

I think I have some pictures somewhere that I took of NC 43 in Pitt/Craven counties this past summer where we had paved just one lane of the road, you could follow the crack sealing from the unpaved lane and see the "bump" in the newly paved lane within minutes. If I can find them I will post 'em up.

Any more questions, I'll answer 'em the best I can.

Rich Anderson · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:28 am

Do you use the IRI (International Roughness Index) grading scale at all? I know that the NHS rates anything ≥170 as less than acceptable, but the actual IRI standard is ≤94. Do they inform you of what the target is for the work? Do they tell you what is when it is done? There are federal IRI statistics state-by-state for the Interstate Highway system and I am curious if this information is being used during the building or resurfacing projects.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:03 am

Rich Anderson wrote:

Do you use the IRI (International Roughness Index) grading scale at all? I know that the NHS rates anything ≥170 as less than acceptable, but the actual IRI standard is ≤94. Do they inform you of what the target is for the work? Do they tell you what is when it is done? There are federal IRI statistics state-by-state for the Interstate Highway system and I am curious if this information is being used during the building or resurfacing projects.

Yes we have a target but as to the specific target, I have no clue :whoknows:

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