OT - Pot holes in gravel driveway

Have a shared gravel driveway, had a pretty good base and was in good shape until my neighbor had a construction project last year. He's paying to get some gravel brought in, but I'm wondering if we need to "grade out" the pot holes first before laying more gravel? Just wondering if they are going to work there way back in? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Fill the potholes first and pack them own by driving over them,then spread your gravel.If you don't fill and pack holes they will show up through the new gravel layer

You need to scrap or cut it down to the bottom of the pot holes and relevel. Might/should not need any more fill.

I have never heard of potholes re-inventing themselves when covered with fresh stone....unless the potholes were created by mud pumping up from under the base due to heavy traffic in wet conditions. In that case those "soft" areas need to be removed to solide base material, then refilled. It never hurts to scarify the top few inches when adding a layer.

Grade out the pot holes befor you add gravel of they reappear.

Depending on where you are depends on what you need to do and what needs to be put down. Before I retired I was part of a crew that built roads in this area as in State hwy projects. I would grade the driveway then lay down dirty base which is fine stuff and powder type lime stone which works sort of like cement and then go from there. NEVER use big rock since rock is lighter then mud so they love to float up and then you have big rock that tare up cars etc

You will end up with a slightly thicker section of gravel in the potholes. With more material thickness in hole area you will get more settlement and therefore it will develop a dip that will be further pounded out by a vechicle.
The low area then collects moisture further weakening the grade. Either take a good heavy cut and get the potholes out or fill and compact potholes prior to main lift of gravel.

I think I have the same neighbor. Except mine won"t pay for gravel.
The best way is to dig/grade down below the existing pothole then lay and compact new material on top at the proper slope for drainage.
I got tired of digging the road out so now I just keep a sharp crown in the middle and it seems to work.
FWIW the heavy traffic actually helped to pack the raod down.

Best to grade it out---they will reappear. On our second farm there was little traffic, just us and the house renter. But when the dips appeared, I broke up the entire quarter mile driveway with a chisel plow, graded it smooth, and re-established a good base.

I would agree and disagree with Larry. I have seen pot holes re-invent themselves. In all but one case it did involve water, but just normal car traffic. The trick to a good drive is consistency, If the under lying base changes you will have issues where it changes.

What happened and what resulted will dictate what you need to do. If the gravel bed is higher than the ground, or is level with soft top soil, and it just pushed out the sides you could get away with re-grading and adding gravel. If you have a condition where the base is disturbed you have a whole n’other can of worms to deal with. I have the latter issue.

When the house was built we had a great driveway (800'). It had all the top soil removed. Road fabric under 8" of 1's &2's and 8" of 57's on top of that. The finished top was at ground level and held up to all kinds of truck / tractor / dozer / car traffic for years. The guy who brought out the blocks drove up it with all the load axels up and left me with 4" ruts from end to end. The guy who was digging out the foundation even commented on the damage done.

Needles to say it has never been right since. The block guy bought me a couple loads of stone and I graciously spread it out. However, I have three or four places that the fabric ripped and I have to fill them every few years with new stone. I have tried to install extra drainage, place all kinds of different size stuff in them and have come to the conclusion the only fix it to dig them out and start over.

What appears to be happening is when water pools in the bad spots the traffic (just normal car traffic) acts like a hyd pump and just digs deeper washing out dirt and stone. The edges around the bad areas it so hard and packed, it cannot be graded with a blade.

I’d dump some stone and grade it out, but let him know this may not fix it and only time will tell.

I have graded them out and had decent results. I had some that continued to come back in the same exact place. Out of frustration,curiosity, and just wanting to try something different, I ran a 12" auger in my post hole digger and went down 3'. I hauled the old dirt off and filled with crushed concrete.

Seems to have resolved the problem so far.

You ought to be able to grade them out and cover them with fresh gravel.

That said be glad you don't have my drive. It's built on a vein of nearly solid rock....the nearly meaning that there are about 4 spots along it's length that routinely hole out on me. Unfortunately I can't do anything but spread a bit more gravel in the holes and keep doing it every time the apear. Heck, I've even tried mixing concrete mix in with the fill,wetting it down and letting it dry before driving over it. All I wind up with is broken pieces of concrete. of course coming in and out with a 30,000 lb truck nearly ever day doesn't exactly help the problem either.....

You should run a scarifier to tear out the pot holes and then regrade adding more gravel if required. If you just shove more gravel in then holes they just come back in the same places. I know this because our stupid county graders come by a a fill the holes without scarifying and the potholes are back in a couple of days.

If you have potholes on a gravel road, the best way to deal with them is to grade the road right after a good rain. Dry gravel in a pothole is a wishful repair. It'll pop back out before you get the tractor back in the shed.

I use my Glenco field cultivator on my factory drive and dig as deep as the deepest pot hole then grade and pack. Takes a lot of passes if not done in early spring. If I do not get as deep as the deepest pot hole the semi's will bring the pot hole back in a few weeks.

Pot holes are caused by water collecting on the driveway. If the rain water doesn't drain off, you can add all the gravel you want, the pot holes will come back. Larger gravel might help. Add clay to the gravel in the pot holes to help keep the water out. Once it gets rained on and packed in, it will be as hard as concrete. Get rid of standing water in the drive.

I've had luck with overfilling them so the tire can't get to the water to pump the gravel out. If you just make it level it won't last at all.

I have a gravel drive about 1400' long. I've fought potholes in several spots where wet weather springs occur along the drive. I've had the best results with buying recycled concrete instead of crusher run gravel. If it's available in your area, you want the double ground recycled concrete. The single ground has too many chunks in it. The lime in the recycled concrete will reharden after a few rains and stay in place. I'll never buy crusher run gravel again.

Break up that pot hole some how. If you can't grade it, at least get it broken up some how.


It burns me up what they do to our gravel roads around here. I suppose they're trying to save fuel and they simply grade the loose gravel back over the pot holes and wash board roads. Two weeks later the loose gravel is pushed back out and we're right back where we started.


In Coleman county Texas, they would drop those big tines on the back of the grader and plow the heck out of those roads. Then when they graded it, it would stay like a highway for months. I'm talking a heavily used road as well.


Break it up so it packs with the new gravel as one complete layer. It will stay smooth longer.

George----You have the right recipe for an excellent fix. Pot-holes CAN be fixed without tearing up the whole road. I've done this successfully on our Assoc common road.

Like most others have said you need to cut down to the bottom of the holes or you will have a "pothole preservation project". If the amount of gravel you are adding will cover the surface at least 4 inches you won,t need to cut it down first. It is very important to crown it though to make the water run off. If the water runs off, it won't be sitting there to carry a little gravel away every time you drive over it in the rain.

There are 3 things needed to have a good road or driveway.
No.1 Drainage
No.2 Drainage
No.3 Drainage
With that said, gravel alone can not be compacted. You can make it settle in place but it will not compact.

What will work the best is to regrade and cut out the potholes and top with 2A. It is a mixture of #57 stone and dirt. It will compact.
Good Luck