Building a driveway in a desert area.

I have property in the NE corner of Nevada...the actual location depends on which way the wind is blowing ;)  There are dirt roods to access the lots in that area but they are very rough.  4x4's, AWD and even 2x4 can do it but they take a beating.  The ground is really hard.  After you get below an inch or so, you need a pick to keep on digging.  I am looking for options to smooth things out a bit that are both relatively inexpensive and environmentally friendly.  Not using heavy equipment is not likely to be an option.  It is about a half mile of dirt road. I have thought about accumulating compost over a year and then bringing in a bulldozer with a "plow type" attachment at the back to break up the soil, then adding compost to it and possibly gravel or sand, and planting some kind of local ground cover to keep the soil in place.  This is probably a poor idea, but I have spent the past years studying ways to build houses and not roads.  

I have been a road builder, so I can help.
Compost may be the worst material you could use.
Can you show me some photos and give me rainfall and soil type details?
Also is there a slope in the area, across the pathway, along the route?
And is there a source of rock in the area?
In expensive is not a word to be associated with what you are asking about.

Here is something to read in the mean time;
forming roads

Gravel Road construction
Gravel Roads

I have found an article on the impossible!
A low cost road using mulch, my mind is having difficulty taking it in.
But it has worked for this bloke in the short term.
temporary low cost road

I will go home this summer and will be able to take some better pics to show you - I will also look at the property a little differently, after getting your advice.
Thanks!

Tom, I'm in western Nevada. Not sure of the nearest city and your budget, but you can rent a truck, trailer, and skidsteer from Reno for ~$2K for about a week which is probably way more than you need. I'll dig small holes with hand tools but anything resembling real work (trenching, grading, road building, etc) I'll call in the little-big-guns like a skidsteer or mini excavator. If you have any friends in construction they very well might own one. I paid a friend for gas, bought food for the weekend, and gave him $100/day. He brought a skidsteer out and did some work, showed me how to use it, watched me from a lawn chair while he drank a beer and yelled instructions at me, etc.

Tony Hawkins wrote:Tom, I'm in western Nevada. Not sure of the nearest city and your budget, but you can rent a truck, trailer, and skidsteer from Reno for ~$2K for about a week which is probably way more than you need. I'll dig small holes with hand tools but anything resembling real work (trenching, grading, road building, etc) I'll call in the little-big-guns like a skidsteer or mini excavator. If you have any friends in construction they very well might own one. I paid a friend for gas, bought food for the weekend, and gave him $100/day. He brought a skidsteer out and did some work, showed me how to use it, watched me from a lawn chair while he drank a beer and yelled instructions at me, etc.

Thanks - that is helpful information!  Yes, I am hoping to do some research, make some measurements (property dimensions, wind, etc) and make a plan for the use of the whole lot.  At that point, I can rent some heavy equipment - especially with a hole digger - and get my $$$ worth!

Hey wondering if you had any updates? I'm looking at a piece of land outside Pahrump. It's dirt/rock off the highway, with about a mile of road that need to be updated, looks like it hasnt been touched in years. It's at the base of a mountain so some wash to deal with. I'm trying to get a general idea of how expensive it is to build a simple road out here that you dont need an off-roader to get by.

Phil, welcome to the forum.

It all depends on a lot of stuff.  

I am assuming this is a steep incline?

We did one a few years ago for about $3000 just for the grader guy.

How much rock will be needed?

Your best bet would be to find the local grader guy and talk with him.

 

Thank you! It's relatively flat but has a bunch of rocks that have come down the mountain, some spots where the road is totally washed out. Will definitely find a local company to talk to. If we're in the <10k range with a bunch of sweat equity, I think it's still feasible.

Being close to pahrump will help, there's a lot of construction services down there. Basically you'll need a dozer or equivelant to clear/push a flat surface down, then aggregate to be dropped onto the surface, then something to push that aggregate down.

Like you said, it depends on what exactly a "road" is to you. My driveway is absolute hell but a concrete truck and my rav4 can all travel it, even though to no one's enjoyment. And that was made entirely with my small backhoe / loader, no aggregate at all.

If you want something a 2wd sedan can drive on and that seems like a well made road, that's the multi-step process I described above. They might throw culverts down in washes that you'll cross, things like that. It can add up.

Lastly I'd just advise to be careful about road building advice from people in other areas. In NW Nevada our rocks "grow" out of the ground due to frost heaving, you couldn't sink gravel into the ground if you tried. Folks in wetter climates have an entirely different situation where they are forever "losing" their gravel into the ground if they don't have a well planned aggregate sizing system (bigger on the bottom) and some folks even put cloth fabric down under it all.

If you talk to someone in Pahrump they'll know all of this, but definitely just reality check with yourself about exactly how nice you need that road. There's no definitive answer. It's like a "big enough" house, you really get your own definition for that one based on what you want.

Thanks for the info! That's the general process I had in mind. Hopefully it's a project we can handle and I have some fun updates to share later