How to Grade Driveways & Roads

Walk the intended roadway and mark its path with yellow-flagged stakes. Estate driveways should be 16 feet wide; multi-use, moderate traffic roads should be 20 feet wide. Allow a minimum of 4 feet on either side, for the distribution of graded earth and stone. Stake turns and steep grades with red-flagged stakes. Measure the overall distance of the intended roadway with a truck's odometer and record the distance.

Use a minimum 3-foot-high blade on a farm tractor or bulldozer to remove the surface material to a level of 6 inches. Use caution in red-flagged areas and regrade if necessary. Identify areas of extreme watercourses or heavy water runoff and, if necessary, dig cross-roadway trenches and install galvanized road pipe. Inspect the graded roadway to determine if further grading is necessary. There should be nothing visible in the surface but solid earth. Any humus, peat or sod areas should be taken down another 4 inches.

Make a final pass with a 5 percent downward slant to the edge of the roadway on both sides. Drag a blade at an angle along the roadside to produce a ditch for water retention, and to prevent it from running over the surface in heavy rain. Make a final walk-by to determine if the grading operation is complete and adequate. Regrade as needed.

Apply a 3-inch layer of coarse aggregate to the entire surface of the roadway. This is most often applied by a dump truck with a progressively raised bed and a 4-inch open span at the back of the bed.

Use a heavy water truck to apply several inches of water to the entire roadway. Allow the water to be absorbed by the earth beneath the aggregate for 2 hours.

Run a medium-grade roller or compactor over the entire roadway to drive the aggregate into the top 4 inches of the earth.

Apply 2 inches of small aggregate, crushed shale or pea gravel to the entire roadway. Re-roll the roadway surface.

Apply 2 inches of slurry or coarse sand as the top layer of subsurface on the roadway. The graded roadway or driveway is now ready for paving or an oil treatment.