How to Correct Pavement Drainage

Install an overlay on your driveway. If your driveway has cracked or shifted because of frost heave, it might mean that water is running to the wrong places, or that more water than your drainage can handle is flowing under the driveway through cracks. Have a new overlay put on your driveway to reseal it and improve top flow drainage.

Build a swale that slopes water away from the pavement. A swale is a rise in the lawn that drains water back toward the lawn rather than towards the pavement. If pavement is not draining properly, it can be very difficult to correct the drainage of the driveway itself. However, if you build up the ground in your lawn or surrounding property to push water away from the driveway in the first place, the water that does build up will do less damage and will be less taxing on the drainage system.

Install drainage pipe along the side of the driveway. This can be done by burying perforated pipe that will collect water and take it to the street under the edges of the driveway. You can hide the pipe under decorative rocks or plants to allow water to freely flow off a crowned driveway to the edges.

Have a new driveway installed by professionals if none of the other methods are working. Use contractors with experience in installing driveways with advanced drainage systems. They can correct the errors originally made. This is especially important if there are drainage difficulties.