How Much Does a Gravel Driveway Cost in Arkansas?

A gravel driveway in Arkansas runs about $15 to $35 a linear foot installed. That is for a drive 12 feet wide with a real base under it. National cost guides put the same work at $1 to $3 a square foot. A 100 foot drive lands around $1,500 to $3,500. A quarter mile drive can pass $40,000.

Those are market numbers, not our price list. We put in gravel driveways in Northeast Arkansas, and every drive prices out on the ground it sits on. Use the ranges below to get your head around the job before you call anybody.

What Does a Gravel Driveway Cost by Length?

Length is the first number people want. The table runs the published $15 to $35 a linear foot range out at a 12 foot width.

Short drives sit near the top of that per foot range. Getting a machine to the property costs about the same whether the drive is 50 feet or 500. Long farm and hunting land roads usually land nearer the bottom per foot. The rock and the machine time spread out.

How Much Does Driveway Gravel Cost per Ton?

National cost guides put driveway rock at roughly $25 to $50 a ton for the material by itself. Crushed limestone sits around $30 to $40 a ton. Pea gravel and crushed granite run about $25 to $50. River rock runs higher, around $35 to $50.

Hauling is its own line. Guides that fold delivery into the number show $28 to $65 a ton delivered. Delta ground here is river laid sand and clay with no rock under it. Every ton gets trucked in from a quarry. The farther the haul, the more the ton costs.

How Many Tons of Gravel Does a Driveway Take?

More than most people guess. A national building calculator runs it this way: length times width in feet, times depth in inches, divided by 324. That gives cubic yards. Crushed stone weighs about 1.4 tons a cubic yard.

Those are truck loads, and the rock is most of what you pay for on a long drive. It is also why a quarter mile road prices so far above a drive to a house in town.

What Drives the Price of a Gravel Driveway?

Base rock and top gravel. A drive built to last gets two layers. A coarse base rock goes down first and carries the weight. A finer crushed top gravel goes over it so the surface drives smooth. A drive with only top gravel and no base sinks the first wet winter.

Width and depth. Every extra foot of width is more rock down the whole length. Depth works the same way. Going from 4 inches to 6 inches adds half again as much rock.

Crown and drainage. A drive has to shed water. We shape a crown down the middle so water runs to the sides. On flat ground the drive also wants shallow ditches along both sides. That shaping is what keeps a new drive from turning into potholes.

Soft ground. Delta clay holds water and goes soft. Rock pushed into soft clay disappears, so a drive out on the flat takes more base and better drainage. Crowley’s Ridge ground drains better, but a drive on a slope washes if it is not crowned and ditched.

New drive or regravel. A new drive on raw ground means clearing the route and cutting the topsoil off. The roadbed gets shaped before any rock lands. Adding rock over a base that still holds up is a much smaller job.

Access. If the route is grown up in brush and saplings, it gets cleared first, and that is its own line. What land clearing runs per acre in Arkansas covers those ranges. On a new build site the drive usually goes in around the time the lot gets cleared for the house.

What Kinds of Gravel Are Sold in Arkansas?

You will hear a few names at the rock yard.

Class 7 base. This is the state highway spec base rock. The Arkansas Department of Transportation gradation for Class 7 runs from 1.5 inches down through the fines. About 50 to 90 percent passes a three quarter inch screen. The fines pack in between the bigger rock and lock it up. It makes a good driveway base.

SB2. Around here SB2 usually means a three quarter inch crushed rock with the fines left in. It is sold for driveways and road base. Yards do not all grade it the same, so ask what size you are getting.

Crusher run. Crushed rock with every size in it on down to dust. It packs hard and is a common base layer.

Creek gravel. Rounded river run gravel. It is cheaper in some places and it looks good, but round rock does not lock together. It rolls under tires and works its way to the edges.

Pea gravel. Small rounded stone, mostly a walkway and patio rock. It moves the same way creek gravel does, so it is a poor pick for a drive that trucks use.

A University of Arkansas aggregate training course lists limestone, dolomite, sandstone, syenite, chert and natural gravel as the state’s aggregates. Which one shows up on your drive depends on the closest quarry.

Do You Need a Permit for a New Driveway Entrance?

If the drive ties into a state highway, yes. The Arkansas rule on access driveway permits says the request goes to the district engineer. That is the Arkansas Department of Transportation district office for your county.

If the drive comes off a county road, the county road department or the county judge’s office handles it. Make that call before the rock gets ordered. A culvert pipe at the entrance, where one is needed, is set by another contractor. We build and gravel the drive itself.

What Does It Cost to Regravel an Old Drive?

Less than a new one, as long as the base is still under there. Cost guides describe regraveling as restoring the top layer over a base that already carries traffic. You are paying for rock and for the machine time to spread and shape it.

A 100 foot drive taking 2 fresh inches needs about 10 tons. The same drive built new on raw ground needs 30 tons plus all the shaping. That gap is why owners of old farm roads regravel on a cycle instead of rebuilding.

Old drives also need the ruts and potholes cut out and the crown put back before new rock goes down. That part is dirt work and grading. It is what keeps fresh gravel from sinking into the same low spots.

Getting a Real Number for Your Drive

Every figure on this page is a market range. The only way to price your drive is to measure it and look at the ground. Then you know how much rock it actually needs.

We come out, measure the run, look at how the water moves and put the number in writing. Call (870) 351-5107 for a free estimate on a new drive, or on regraveling one that has gone to potholes.