Has anybody had a driveway built on their property recently?
How much did it cost?
On the site in question we are talking about roughly 1000' gravelled, starting at the road, through a cleared pasture and then up a modest grade through trees.
It is hard to compare cost's from differenta areas due to the variances in soil types, terrain, availability/cost of granular material, site location and even local codes.
For best estimates try for the cost of aggragate and make an estimate on the equipment hours that will be required. Then price these out.
For the final cost double your above cost and add 50%; It will put you right on every time!
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If the ground is hard enough, and it should be this time of year, then have the gravel trucks start spreading. Five of six loads should do for a couple of years. The drivers will spread it for you at no charge (at least not here)and you will be good for a year or so. You pack it down by driving over it. Every couple of years you will have to put a load on. Down here I pay about $125 a truck load, spread.
Before you start laying gravel, a bit of time building a road bed might be a good idea. You want a strip higher than the surrounding ground else the continued traffic on it will make it lower and water will start puddling on it. Some folks have also mentioned putting down the geotextile fabric, or even used carpet, to help reduce the gravel sinking into the soil.
Search the board here or over at tractorbynet.com, there have been several good threads on doing this, but it boils down to: prepare roadbed, lay geotextile fabric, put down big rocks, put down little rocks.