The puddle in my driveway

Hey folks,

I have a puddle in my driveway and it’s rather inconvenient.

I’m planning to fix the problem shortly by building up one side with earthbags and then layering gravel, sand, roadbase etc until it reaches desired height.

The soil is heavy clay, we have no risk of freezing, and it rains a lot.

My question is to do with the drainage underneath. I need some input - my neighbors and I can’t agree.

3 photos below.

First, the driveway in question. As the person taking the photo stands, the land slopes towards the left as well as towards behind the person.

Second photo: my solution. Red line is perforated drainage pipe in the gravel layer running parallel to the driveway and then exiting out the side when appropriate.

Third photo is another option, with many sections of drainage pipe running perpendicular to the driveway instead.

Significant wet spots indicated with water droplets.

Any thoughts/experiences/ about which of these options would perform better?

I'm not an expert, but a couple of my thoughts for what they are worth....

I can see that a wet clay side slope will not be the easiest surface to drive on - let alone any running water issues! That said, around here gravel on a slope has to be chosen carefully as it will tend to move down hill and all end up at the bottom of the slope.

Where does the water come from and where will it go?

The risk of the pipe running the length of the drive is that it will get overloaded and then cause erosion at the point of exit. I often see erosion/ drainage gullies cut at an angle across the track to divert smaller amounts of water to one side. A simple version is just a moderate sized log. This video shows someone has used road barrier sections across a forest track, which seems to have been effective.

Thanks Nancy. Your points make sense.

The water is coming from a tarred access road and will drain down a steep slope in an unused part of the property. So once it's left the driveway it shouldn't be a problem any longer. I plan to build up the downward side of the driveway somewhat and line it with earthbags -- so if the gravel is laid and compacted correctly, it won't have much room for downward migration. Hopefully!

I think I'll cut the drainage lines across the track like in the video and full with gravel.

I hope you are using 1 1/2 inch rock as  the bottom layer and allow traffic to push it in.
when it stops settling add a 3/4 inch road mix on top

Our driveway where our daughter now lives was similar.

The driveway was flat though the land was sloped similar to your.

During a heavy rainstorm, our neighbor complained about the water washing from higher properties.

I dug a ditch alongside the driveway to direct the water into a bar ditch.  That worked well for future rainstorm.

I am assuming your plan is to use the earthbags as a type of dam.  that sounds like a good plan.

A ditch on the other side of the earthbag might help direct that water to a better plan.

Anne, why does the neighbour expect with water flowing from higher up a hill? That video was great and showed a good use of thar armco railing which may not be eroded away, thanks.