Gravel Driveways in Crawfordsville, IN
Crawfordsville is an old city, about the same size it was in 1960, on Sugar Creek in the middle of a farm county. The drive calls are old drives that have lost their stone into the clay, and long lanes on the county roads where the fields run to the horizon. Travis rebuilds the one and builds the other.
- Free estimates
- Based in Greencastle, Indiana
- One crew, first cut to final grade
Gravel Driveways in Crawfordsville
An old city that stopped growing and kept its drives
Crawfordsville had about 14,000 people in 1960 and has about 16,000 now. Wabash College has been here since 1832, the courthouse since the county was laid out, and a lot of the housing is older than anyone living in it. On those older streets, the drive to the garage out back is often still stone, and it has been topped up rather than rebuilt for decades.
Each load of gravel sank a little further into the clay. What is left is a strip of mud with some stone in it, a hump where the garage apron used to be, and water standing in the ruts. That drive is not fixed by one more load. It is dug out and built again from the ground down.
Rebuilding the old city drive
The mud and the buried stone come out down to firm ground, which on an old lot can be deeper than you would think. If the garage is going too, demolition in Crawfordsville takes it down first and the drive is built to wherever the new building or the parking pad ends up.
Then the base goes in: #53 crushed limestone, an INDOT size with the fines left in, compacted into a hard layer. A surface of smaller clean stone, #8 or #11, goes on top and is crowned. The edges are held so the stone does not spread into the lawn, and the apron at the street is shaped so water does not run down the drive from the road.
Long lanes on the Montgomery County roads
Montgomery County is low rolling hills, almost all of it farmed, with Sugar Creek cutting west across the middle. Outside the city, the drives are long. A quarter mile from the road to the house is not unusual, and the length is the first thing that sets how much stone a job needs and how far the trucks have to come.
A long lane is built in the same two courses as a short one, but the fall matters more. Water that runs the length of a quarter-mile drive picks up speed, and it takes the surface stone with it. The lane is crowned, or sloped to one side where the ground allows, and the ditch alongside is kept able to carry what comes off.
Sugar Creek ground and the upland clay
Up on the till, the ground around Crawfordsville is the same clay as the rest of Central Indiana: slow to drain, soft when wet, and hungry for gravel. Down toward Sugar Creek and the runs that feed it, the ground is lower and wetter, and parts of it are in the mapped floodplain.
On the wet ground, the base goes in thicker and geotextile fabric goes under it to keep the clay out of the stone. Not every lot is the same, and some have firm ground closer to the surface than the clay would suggest. Travis finds out what is there when the bucket goes in, and tells you before the stone is ordered.
City street, county road or state route
The road end of a drive is in the public right of way and is not only yours to decide. On a county road, the Montgomery County Highway Department is the office for a new entrance and the culvert under it, and it is asked before any pipe or stone is ordered. Inside the city limits, the City of Crawfordsville is asked about an entrance onto a city street.
US 231, US 136, SR 32 and SR 47 all run through or out of Crawfordsville, and they belong to the state. A new entrance onto any of them, or a change to one that exists, needs an INDOT driveway permit approved before work starts. Indiana 811 is contacted at least two full working days before the first bucket goes in, so the buried lines are marked.
Repairs, drainage and the figure
A country lane that has gone to potholes and soft spots is usually a repair. The bad lengths are dug and based, the run is regraded with the crown put back, and fresh stone goes on. Gravel driveway repair and regrading covers what can be saved. If the ground beside the drive holds water, yard drainage in Crawfordsville is the swale or French drain that keeps it out of the base.
Estimates are free. Travis measures the run and gives you one figure that has the digging, the stone, the trucking and the road end in it. Crawfordsville is about thirty-five minutes up US 231 from Greencastle. The Crawfordsville page lists the rest of the work here, and the driveway installation page has the method.
Gravel Driveways
New gravel drives cut, based and crowned, plus potholes, soft spots and washouts repaired.
See the serviceTalk to Travis(317) 203-8928
Tell Travis whether it is an old city drive or a lane on a county road, and roughly how long. He comes out and gives you one number.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Old city drives rebuilt. Mud and sunk stone dug out, based and crowned from the ground down.
- Long county lanes. Quarter-mile runs built with the fall worked out for the length.
- Entrances and culverts. County, city or INDOT asked first; the pipe sized for the ditch.
- Repairs and regrading. Potholes and soft spots dug and based, fresh stone on top.
Crawfordsville, IN
The Montgomery County seat and Wabash College's town, 35 minutes north of Greencastle, with older neighborhoods and Sugar Creek bottoms.
Town pageAlso in CrawfordsvilleDemolition & Removal in Crawfordsville, IN
See the pageAlso in CrawfordsvilleYard Drainage & French Drains in Crawfordsville, IN
See the pageThe serviceGravel Driveways
New gravel drives cut, based and crowned, plus potholes, soft spots and washouts repaired.
Main service pageCrawfordsville and the towns nearby
Crawfordsville is the north end of the run from Greencastle, thirty-five minutes up US 231. The same city drives and county lanes are built back down the highway in Greencastle and across the county line in Danville and Brownsburg. Ladoga, Waveland, New Market, Linden and the Montgomery County roads between them are the same trip, and the service area page has the rest.
You get Travis. One crew, first cut to final grade.
You call
You call or send the form. Travis comes out and looks at the job with you, on the ground, rather than pricing it off a photograph.
A number first
You get one figure before anything starts, with the hauling and the finish grading in it.
One crew does it
Then the same crew that quoted it shows up and does the work, first cut to final grade.
Ground left usable
Voids get filled and the ground is graded back so you can pour, build or seed.
Photos of his work.
These are photographs from actual jobs. See more recent work. Or read about the full gravel driveways service.
Questions people ask
Not seeing yours? Call (317) 203-8928 and ask Travis, or read the guides.
Why has my old Crawfordsville drive turned to mud after years of adding gravel?
Because every load sank into the clay under it. Without a compacted base, stone works its way down until there is mud on top again. The fix is to dig out the mud and the buried stone, build a #53 base on firm ground and put a clean surface stone over it.
How much does the length of a county lane change the job?
It is the first thing that sets the price. A quarter-mile drive needs many times the stone of a short one, and the trucks have to come further. It also changes the build: water running the length of a long lane moves stone, so the crown and the ditch matter more.
Who approves a driveway entrance onto US 231 or SR 32?
INDOT. Both are state routes, and a new or changed entrance needs a driveway permit approved before any work in the state right of way. A county road entrance goes through the Montgomery County Highway Department, and a city street through the City of Crawfordsville.
Is the ground near Sugar Creek different to build on?
Yes. It is lower, wetter and sometimes in the mapped floodplain, so the base goes thicker and fabric goes under it. If the lot is in the floodplain, that is worth knowing before any fill is brought in. Travis finds out what the ground is when the topsoil comes off.
Other work he takes on
Most jobs end up being two or three of these at once, and they get quoted together.
Gravel Driveways in other towns
Excavation & Site Prep
Sites stripped, cut and graded, ready for the builder.
Learn moreFoundation & Basement Excavation
Basements, crawl spaces and footings dug to grade and backfilled.
Learn moreDrainage, Culverts & Utilities
Water moved off yards and away from foundations; culverts and service lines set.
Learn moreDriveways & Finish Grading
Gravel drives built and crowned; yards finish graded for seed.
Learn moreLand Clearing & Forestry Mulching
Lots and acreage cleared, brush mulched in place.
Learn moreBuilding & Pole Barn Pads
Pads cut, filled and compacted for barns, shops and houses.
Learn moreFree estimate in Crawfordsville.
Call or text Travis. Free estimates, straight answers.
Greencastle, Indiana · Putnam, Hendricks, Boone and Marion counties
Need gravel driveway work in Crawfordsville?
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