Design and New Construction

The average house hold has at least two cars. If the driveway layout accommodates only the room for two cars to get in and out it can become very difficult when a visitor has no place to easily park. What can happen in this situation they can then wind up blocking any other vehicles from moving so multiple people are involved in getting another car out of the drive?

We can point out areas to build into the driveway design in how the site can be modified to make the flow better and not shoe horned in.

Having done a huge amount of driveway installation and repair we have developed a big catalog of information about driveway and what works and what does not work and has to be fixed. Talking with our many customers that are making a change is when you hear and see all sorts of examples of the good the bad and the ugly.

Often people’s view of what they need is based on their current activities. In the design process we try to remind people to plan ahead for additional vehicles when teenagers start to drive and may get of their own vehicles. Friends and relatives that are older will need consideration towards setting up easy access to the homes entrance. Younger physically fit couples may not realize how easy access may be a really big deal later on. Other things can happen such as an injury or a health related problem requiring better access. Consideration for more space to maneuver in getting in and out of a vehicle and doors not hitting is easier to fix at the start than doing it later.

Safer entrance and exit from the driveway can prevent accidents and injury on that day when you are in a rush or really distracted by a problem and have to back out of a narrow driveway into a busy street or a blind curve and just don’t look well enough. It always happens at the worst time.

Planning the entrance needs to take into consideration the angle of intersection with the road. Vehicles that have restricted side views cannot get out safely if the angle is greater than 60 degrees. A clear line of site is needed for all driveways. As the speed increases the distance needed goes way up. An example would be the following recommendations, 130 feet for roadways with a 20 mph speed limit it increased to 1,050 feet for roadways with a 60 mph speed limit.