Anybody have a unique steep driveway with ideas?

Quit guessing what the best way to do it is and just hire one of the local guys up there in the mountains who builds driveways.
 
Friends of my parents live near Birmingham, AL. I don't know how they get up or down the driveway in the winter, though.
 
drkelly said:
Quit guessing what the best way to do it is and just hire one of the local guys up there in the mountains who builds driveways.
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No 2 person's are the same or share the same views except for the very one person that gets hired and his view is strictly limited to making $$$. It's a poor area and everyone's grasping for work. Felt this site would be a very good start before opening up an IV and a vein to a contractor. Done opened up my vein to a surveyor and he's already insisting more than I need. But felt it MIGHT be needed in the long run so I'm going along. Plus he's (supposedly) already on it where as everybody else was at least a month behind. But I do know he does good work, he's just very remotely located and don't get the main stream of work.
 
Just googled and 3:1 slope is 18.5 degrees. 2:1 is 26.6 degrees. So we're talking between 18 and 27 degrees.
Fabrik8 said:
30-ish %? 30 degrees would be about a 58% grade. That's about 18% more than the steepest streets that Google found in the world.
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3:1 slope is 18.5 degrees. 2:1 is 26.6 degrees. So we're talking between 18 at the bottom and 25-26'ish degrees at the top at the most. Still say if I can do it in a '76 Maverick all day long on dirt when it's dry that I could do it with a 4x4 with gravel and wet. Cousin got up it in the rain in his modified / locked F150.

If I was up there during a snow, 99% likely I would remain up there until cabin fever set in. At least the drive faces South.
 
I'm w/ Shawn, how far back does the property go? If you grade the hell out of the top, double the length of the driveway (so its now 1000'), and just make it zig-zag (< 90 degree turns, not real switchbacks) you will cut the grade by well over 1/2. That'd be very tenable.
 
6BangBronk said:
Just googled and 3:1 slope is 18.5 degrees. 2:1 is 26.6 degrees. So we're talking between 18 and 27 degrees.


3:1 slope is 18.5 degrees. 2:1 is 26.6 degrees. So we're talking between 18 at the bottom and 25-26'ish degrees at the top at the most. Still say if I can do it in a '76 Maverick all day long on dirt when it's dry that I could do it with a 4x4 with gravel and wet. Cousin got up it in the rain in his modified / locked F150.

If I was up there during a snow, 99% likely I would remain up there until cabin fever set in. At least the drive faces South.
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I just assumed a triangle, and the Tangent of the angle is the slope, so the angle is inverse Tangent of (150/470) which is 17.7deg.
 
W only 50' width the cut @ the top would have near vertical slopes. 1 to 1 slope would get you about 20' w a 10' wide bottom w no ditches and it's too steep to stabilize easily. Cutting right to the property line is not a good idea either. Trees and earth could topple off the adjoiners w cutting and erosion and you'd be responsible for the damage. W some retaining walls you could get deeper @ the top but they are not cheap if they are long and tall. I imagine you may hit rock if you start digging and that could be a real problem in itself.
 
You'd just cut at the top. The last 100ft or whatever that's at 40%. Take five feet out of the top, fill a little at the bottom, try to get it into the low 30s.
 
Where is the property located? If remotely close I could look at it for you and give you some advice. We deal with this all the time. You would typically sacrifice a short area really steep to get a better approach on the rest of the driveway.
 
jaybird1ton said:
Where is the property located? If remotely close I could look at it for you and give you some advice. We deal with this all the time. You would typically sacrifice a short area really steep to get a better approach on the rest of the driveway.
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As SOOON as I get my answer from Health Department I'll come out with location. I just don't see the need to go that far if I can't even build up there? Heck, I'll leave it as-is and just throw some gravel down and call it my hunting land if I can't build.

But you are exactly 2 hours away jaybirt1ton and I'd be MORE than happy to get advice for that's the very reason of this post. I pretty much only know what Google tells me along with the expert advice of NC4x4. Speaking Seriously!!! And there's only one local up there that cuts driveways. Everybody up there know him well. But with population of 1,200 there's not much room for another. I'm just the kind that likes a second set (even more the better) eyeballs. If you have experience, I'd gladly pay your gas and time if interested.

There's several steep drives nearby. This would not be the first. And it's very much do-able. Question though goes back to my initial question being how is the best to do it? Funds are finally here but it's a one shot deal. I don't see me going back 10 years from now to redo this since I'm looking at least $20K for starters just to cut it in.

A lot of very good responses so far. I just can't believe nobody has a steep drive with some cool remedies from a bunch of left minded wheelers? Seen some good minds come together here though.

And yes, I have withheld greatly and will have MUCH more info to come out with. But all my documents have the exact location pinpointed and it don't matter how many times I go over info with a sharpie, our Bizhub printer pulls it right back out.:shaking: I've tried and tried for I really want to show more. I just don't want to open up my "hunting land" to millions of wheelers if I can't live there. :) I already have to take down on average 2-3 deer stands a year.

I've realized that the process of getting a survey plat, some lines flagged (actually the two sides is all I want up on the main portion) is 1,450 feet. We call it "The Swat" for it's shaped like a fly swat but 90% of the land is on top. And then the Health Department out to perk the land may take months.:(

Thanks again!
 
kaiser715 said:
How you gonna get concrete up there? Wheelbarrow?
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Pump it. Or gas cart it. Or if there's issues, I have a 2 bagger concrete mixer on 33's that would tow behind a flat bed 4x4 with bags.

Reality, probably pump the bottom as far as I can reach and then do the rest with my mixer. Or do it in sections and come back to the next section when it dries.
 
I'm not leaving out the possibility of further negotiations with the side neighbors. Just would be nice to have a solid Plan B and to know all I can beforehand. The neighbor past it has a natural draw that leads to my trail. But his direction leads the opposite way to travel. I'd have to go 5 miles out of the way to go that way. The neighbor to the right would be ideal but would require a lot of cut and would destroy half their garden. I've requested a deed search from the surveyor to see if they actually have an access easement or if the wife was just exercising her jaw muscles when we spoke?

So many questions at this point...
 
Just for the record... 337 Tucker Hollow Road, Fall Branch Tennessee 37656 Final Soils Plat is now on it's way to the Tennessee Environmental Department for finalization of my soils map to be PERMANANTLY permitted for a septic system. HELL yea...

And there is no stipulations for driveway steepness in Washington County TN in my A-1 zoning. Only thing has to happen now is a driveway permit from TDOT and a connection made. The permit is free and if they want a pipe, I buy the pipe and TDOT installs it. I just have to make a trip to Knoxville to sign my name to get the TDOT Field Engineer out to determine if I need a pipe.
 
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