Concrete v. Asphalt driveway for central Illinois

[Campfires]

Originally Posted by Robino1

The only problem I foresee with pea gravel is winter and snow shoveling or plowing. It will have to be redone each year if you have a snowy winter.

I think you have your answer though. You tend to see concrete in better shape over time. It really does need to be installed properly and do not let heavy trucks drive on your concrete driveway. They just aren't meant to carry the load a concrete road can.

I put some aftermarket snowblower skids on my machine and even with 3/4 inch gravel, I do well. If somebody is plowing a gravel driveway as opposed to backblading it, yeah, you're going to have problems.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by merewenc

1) $50,000? Really?

2) The point is that one may cost more than the other over the usable lifetime of the driveway if the climate will act as a damaging agent. Say the difference is a more reasonable $15,000 for a concrete driveway that may only need $500 in repairs over 30 years versus $5,000 for an asphalt driveway that will need $1,000 repairs and replacement every 10 years due to weather damage. In 30 years, the hypothetical concrete driveway would cost $15,500, while the asphalt driveway would cost $21,000. And that's not even counting for inflation.

It's been quite a few years, but in Michigan, my parent's concrete drive was about the same initial cost as asphalt. A monster concrete drive, prolly 80 feet long & wide enough to park 3 cars at one end & two cars wide all along the way. Roughly $5k for the actual concrete, but the "base" was already put in over several years - "road mix" was added & leveled with an old box-spring & a riding mower a couple times a year for several years, until there was about a foot - 18" of compacted gravel to pour the concrete on.

Concrete prices can vary wildly based on area though - out here in Phoenix, I can get a slab poured for just over a buck a square foot & as long as you have the fibers added to the concrete, you really don't need a "base".