Is it just me, or does everyone in Scottsdale/Paradise Valley have a gravel driveway?

[pathrunner]

Originally Posted by Driver 47

Gravel is cheaper than asphalt besides, in that area asphalt might get too soft in the sun.

And not only Scottsdale, many mansions in Paradise Valley have gravel or dirt driveways. That's more a thing of the past now, due to so many later builds. But many of the older homes still have them.

[tommy64]

It struck me as odd to see a high end Mercedes or Audi sitting on gravel.

The driveways I'm speaking of tend to be (don't know what they're called) "D" shaped in the sense that there's an entrance, the car is parked near the front of the house, then exits straight onto the street. A one-way-drive-through affair. I don't remember seeing many dirt/gravel driveways done in a standard 90 degree-off-the-street and into a garage, like a McMansion would have. Those were concrete or pavers.

[pathrunner]

Many homes in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley have the "D" shaped driveways. Also, 85028.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by tommy64

It struck me as odd to see a high end Mercedes or Audi sitting on gravel.

The driveways I'm speaking of tend to be (don't know what they're called) "D" shaped in the sense that there's an entrance, the car is parked near the front of the house, then exits straight onto the street. A one-way-drive-through affair. I don't remember seeing many dirt/gravel driveways done in a standard 90 degree-off-the-street and into a garage, like a McMansion would have. Those were concrete or pavers.

It's a turnaround driveway. That triples the cost (surface area) of paving it. When you work the math at $5 a square foot. A 12-foot wide driveway x 300 linear feet x $5 a square foot is $18K. That would be the 1st thing I'd do if I bought a place like that. But that's me... In MN, multiply that per square footage cost by 3x.

[Valley Native]

Scottsdale is a large suburb with nearly 250,000 residents. To assume that there are few paved driveways is rather foolish. The majority of Scottsdale homes have concrete driveways. I'm sure there are some areas in the northern part where the driveways consist of gravel or dirt, but they're clearly in the minority. On the other hand, Paradise Valley was designed to be an upper class enclave in the hills with custom built homes, so I'm sure there are properties there with gravel or dirt to give it more of a "desert" feel ... especially the homes near the preserves.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by TimAZ

Come down to Tucson — our roads disintegrate to rubble all year round.

A subdivision we lived in had a paving project in June 2016 where they placed an asphalt overlay. A few days later when the temperature was triple digits a heavy cement truck left ruts in the road that are still visible today.

Sounds like a City of Tucson problem.