Asphalt Paving in Acworth, GA

Red clay, hills and rain: what Acworth ground does to asphalt

Acworth sits in the Piedmont, and the red clay here is the kind the USDA maps across that whole province. Those soils run a sandy loam surface over a thick red clay subsoil. Soaked clay gets slick, ruts under a loaded truck and carries almost no weight. So the stone base and the grading decide the job, more than the asphalt laid over them.

The land drops hard in a short distance around town. USGS elevation data puts the Allatoona shoreline near town around 840 feet. Downtown Acworth runs past 900 feet, and the ridges south of town climb toward 970. All of that fall is water looking for a path, and plenty of it crosses somebody's driveway.

This part of Georgia takes close to 50 inches of rain a year. Summers run long and hot, and winter nights drop below freezing often enough to work cracks open. Standing water is what actually kills asphalt. The national asphalt pavement trade group calls it the leading cause of driveway failure.

Acworth driveways: subdivision drives and lake lots

Acworth held under 5,000 people until the 1990s and filled in fast after that. It passed 20,000 by 2010, per the long range plan the city adopted. Census housing data puts the median Acworth home at a 1998 build. Close to six in ten homes here went up between 1990 and 2009.

That puts a lot of driveways here at 20 to 30 years old, sitting at a decision point. Where the base is still solid and the surface is worn with shallow cracks, an asphalt overlay works. Where the cracking runs in the wheel tracks across the whole drive, the base failed underneath. GDOT's resurfacing guidance says overlaying that kind of distress is not cost effective.

Lots near Lake Acworth and the Allatoona shoreline are a different job. Those drives often fall away toward the water at a real grade. Steep asphalt needs the water pushed off it on purpose. That means a crown or a cross slope, and somewhere for the runoff to go. Out past the city line the drives get longer, and some serve several houses at once, which makes them private roads.

Parking lots along Cobb Parkway and Highway 92

Cobb Parkway is US 41, and the city's plan calls it the busiest commercial corridor in Acworth. Four miles of it sit inside the city limits, lined with big box stores and shopping centers. That same plan notes many of those developments share parking and share their entrances off Cobb Parkway. Shared lots wear fast, because every car on the strip cuts through them.

The I-75 interchanges at Highway 92 and Glade Road carry hotels, gas stations and restaurants. New McEver Road holds the city's industrial ground, with warehouse and manufacturing lots that see trucks all day. A section built for cars will not hold a loaded truck turning in the same spot every morning. Parking lot paving there means a heavier build where the trucks run and a lighter one under the car stalls.

Most of these businesses cannot shut down for a week. We plan the work in phases with you, so part of the lot stays open while another part gets paved. Striping goes back on once the asphalt has cured. The Department of Justice says restriping a lot triggers the accessible parking rules in the 2010 ADA Standards.

Who approves a driveway connection in Acworth

An Acworth mailing address does not always mean the City of Acworth. The city limits sit entirely in Cobb County, per the Census place file. The 30101 and 30102 ZIP codes reach well past that line, into Bartow, Cherokee and Paulding. Which government controls your driveway connection depends on the road you tie into.

Cobb County DOT says a residential driveway onto a county road has to be approved by Cobb DOT. There is no separate driveway permit for it. The owner or the contractor asks for a review with the address and a sketch. Cobb DOT then issues a driveway approval letter.

A driveway onto a state road works differently. That one needs a GDOT Encroachment Permit for work in the state right of way. Cobb Parkway and Highway 92 are both state routes. Inside the city limits, Acworth's own public works keeps the streets up.

We build to whatever the road owner's rules say for your connection. GDOT also puts the pipe and the drive up to the edge of the road on the property owner. Before anything gets dug, the locate request goes to Georgia 811, which state law requires.