Gravel Driveways in Danville, IN
Danville is the county seat with farm roads leaving it in every direction, and the highest ground in Hendricks County is a mile and a half west of the square. Drives here climb, turn and cross ditches, and they wash where a flat-lot drive would just sit wet. Travis builds them with the fall worked out before the stone arrives.
- Free estimates
- Based in Greencastle, Indiana
- One crew, first cut to final grade
Gravel Driveways in Danville
A county-seat town with farm roads on every side
Danville has grown, from about 6,400 people in 2000 to more than 10,500, but it has kept its shape: a courthouse square on US 36, older streets around it, newer neighborhoods on the edges, and then farm ground. SR 39 runs north to Lizton and south toward I-70, and county roads leave town on every compass point.
Those roads are where the gravel drives are. Farm lanes that have carried grain trucks for fifty years. Field entrances that need rebuilding every few seasons. House drives on five-acre lots that were cut out of a field in the last twenty years. And in town, the older lots where the drive to the detached garage was never anything but stone.
The drive that climbs
Hendricks County is low rolling hills, and around Danville the rolls are big enough to matter. A drive that climbs from the road to the house has water running down it every time it rains, and loose stone goes with the water. The first wet spring, the bottom of the drive has all the gravel and the top has none.
The answer is in the grade, not in more stone. The drive is built with a fall to one side where the slope allows it, so water leaves across the drive rather than running down its length. Where it cannot leave, a shallow dip carries it off at intervals. The base is compacted hard enough that the surface stone has something to hold onto. The driveway installation page has the method.
Farm lanes and field entrances
A lane that carries a loaded grain truck or a planter on a trailer is built heavier than a house drive. The base goes thicker, the width is set for the widest thing that will use it, and the turn at the road is cut wide enough that the trailer tires do not drop off the edge into the ditch.
A field entrance is the same job in a shorter length, and it is the one that gets rebuilt most often because it takes the hardest use at the wettest times of year. Say what will drive on it before it is priced. The build for a pickup and the build for a semi are not the same, and the difference is in the base, where you cannot see it.
The two courses of stone
Under all of it is the clay till that covers this county, which holds water and goes soft. The topsoil and anything soft come off first. Then a base course of #53 crushed limestone, an INDOT size that keeps its fines and packs into a hard layer when it is compacted. Over that goes a surface of smaller clean stone, #8 or #11, which drives quietly and can be raked back into shape.
On wet ground, geotextile fabric goes under the base so the clay cannot work up into it. The finished drive is crowned or sloped to one side, and the ditch alongside is left able to carry the water away. The driveway gravel guide goes through the stone sizes and why the order matters.
The road end, in the county-seat town
The first few feet of a drive sit in the public right of way. On a county road, the Hendricks County Highway Department is the office for a new entrance and the culvert under it, and it is asked before stone or pipe is ordered. On a street inside town, the Town of Danville is asked instead. Buried lines are located through Indiana 811 first, two full working days ahead.
US 36, which is Main Street through Danville, and SR 39 are state routes. A new entrance onto either, or a change to one that is there, needs a driveway permit from INDOT, applied for through its online permit system and approved before work starts in the state right of way. The driveway culvert guide explains the pipe and the permit in more detail.
Repairs, and the figure
If the drive is there and has gone to ruts, washboard or a washed-out bottom, that is a repair. The soft spots are dug and based, the run is regraded with the fall corrected, and fresh stone goes on. Gravel driveway repair and regrading explains what can be saved and what cannot.
Travis walks the run with you and gives you one figure with the digging, the stone, the hauling and the road end in it. Estimates are free. The Danville page lists the rest of the work here, and if the lot is wet beside the drive, yard drainage in Danville is the other half of the job.
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 the drive climbs, what will drive on it, and which road it meets. He comes out, walks it and gives you one number.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Drives that climb. Built with a side fall so the stone stays at the top.
- Farm lanes. Lanes and field entrances based heavier for grain trucks and equipment.
- In-town garage drives. Older lots restoned and crowned, edges held.
- Entrances and culverts. County, town or INDOT asked first; pipe sized for the ditch.
Danville, IN
The Hendricks County seat on US-36, 25 minutes from Greencastle, with in-town lots, newer neighborhoods and farm parcels around it.
Town pageAlso in DanvilleDemolition & Removal in Danville, IN
See the pageAlso in DanvilleYard Drainage & French Drains in Danville, IN
See the pageThe serviceGravel Driveways
New gravel drives cut, based and crowned, plus potholes, soft spots and washouts repaired.
Main service pageDanville and the towns nearby
Danville is the middle of Hendricks County and the closest of its towns to Greencastle, twenty-five minutes along US 36. The same lanes and drives go in east in Avon, north in Brownsburg and back home in Greencastle. Clayton, Coatesville, North Salem and the 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 does my drive outside Danville lose all its gravel to the bottom?
Because it climbs and the water runs down it, carrying loose stone along. The fix is in the grade: a fall to one side so water leaves across the drive, dips at intervals where it cannot, and a compacted base the surface stone can grip. More gravel on its own goes the same way.
Can you build a lane that will carry a grain truck?
Yes, if it is built for one. A farm lane gets a thicker base than a house drive, a width set by the widest equipment, and a wide turn at the road. Tell Travis what will use it before he prices it, because the difference is in the base.
Who do I ask about a new driveway entrance in Danville?
It depends on the road. County road: the Hendricks County Highway Department. Town street: the Town of Danville. US 36 or SR 39: an INDOT driveway permit, approved before any work in the state right of way. Travis asks the right office before any stone or pipe is ordered.
What goes under the surface stone?
A compacted base of #53 crushed limestone on firm ground, with geotextile fabric under it where the clay is wet. The surface is a smaller clean stone, #8 or #11. The base is what keeps the drive out of the clay; the surface is what you see.
Do you do the old gravel drive to a garage on an in-town lot?
Yes. Those are usually short and the work is mostly regrading, holding the edges and putting a fresh crown and surface on. If the stone has sunk into the clay, the soft length is dug out and based first. Travis tells you which when he looks.
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 Danville.
Call or text Travis. Free estimates, straight answers.
Greencastle, Indiana · Putnam, Hendricks, Boone and Marion counties
Need gravel driveway work in Danville?
Call or text Travis with the address and what you are trying to do.