Asphalt Paving in Rome, GA

What does Rome ground do to asphalt?

Rome sits in Georgia's Ridge and Valley country. The ridges here stand on hard sandstone and chert. The valleys sit on shale and limestone, which weather down into deeper soil. That is why ridge ground runs thin and rocky while valley ground runs soft and deep.

The USDA soil survey maps the common ridge soil here as ground weathered from cherty limestone. It shows up on slopes anywhere from 2 to 70 percent, with chert gravel and cobbles mixed through it. Rock like that can be a decent base once it is graded and compacted. It can also hide a soft pocket that turns into a dip in the pavement a year later.

Then there is the low ground. The rivers meet downtown and the city has a levee system. The flat land near the water floods, and it did long before that levee. An 1886 flood floated a steamboat down Broad Street.

Rome averages about 51 inches of rain a year and about 64 freezing nights, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. Water works into a weak base, then freezes and thaws all winter. Paving industry guidance calls standing water the leading cause of driveway failure. So grading and the stone base get the time here, before any asphalt goes down.

Driveways in Rome and out in Floyd County

Rome has a lot of old in-town housing. Between the Rivers, East Rome and the blocks off South Broad Street are listed historic districts. Drives there are narrow, often on a grade, and many have been patched for years. On those we look at whether the base is still sound before anyone talks about an overlay.

West Rome is where most of the subdivision driveways sit. Garden Lakes and Alto Park run off paved streets with regular lots and shorter drives. Driveways like those are usually a short run with a turnaround or a parking pad at the house. Most driveways are paved in a day or two once the base work is finished.

Head out toward Armuchee, Coosa, Silver Creek, Lindale or Cave Spring and the drives get long. Gravel runs of 1,000 feet and more are normal out there, and so are steep pulls up a wooded ridge. A long drive like that is where tar and chip comes up, with its country road look. Either way, the base and the drainage decide how it holds up.

Parking lots on Rome's business corridors

Shorter Avenue, Turner McCall Boulevard and Martha Berry Boulevard carry most of Rome's traffic and most of its parking. Downtown Broad Street and Riverside Parkway add more, and Berry College sits north of town off Martha Berry Highway. Rome and Floyd County carry two hospitals and four colleges between them. Campuses and medical buildings park cars all day, every day.

Flat valley lots are where water stands after a storm. A lot that ponds will lose its surface at the low spot first, then the potholes spread from there. Truck lanes, dumpster pads and loading areas take a harder beating than car stalls, so those areas get built heavier. We plan the work in phases with you so the business can stay open.

Fresh pavement gets laid out and marked once it is ready. Stalls, arrows, stop bars, fire lanes and accessible spaces all go down as part of the job. A faded lot with sound pavement may only need new lines painted and nothing else. Where the base is sound and only the surface is worn, an overlay is the lighter job.

Who approves a new driveway in Rome?

Three road owners can be involved in Rome, and it depends on the road your driveway ties into. Inside the city, the Rome Streets and Drainage Department approves curb cuts for new residential driveways. That department also maintains 267 centerline miles of city asphalt. On a county road, Floyd County Engineering permits every new driveway connection before a building permit is issued.

State routes are the third case, and US 27 runs through town as Turner McCall Boulevard and Martha Berry Boulevard. GDOT's rules say a permit is required before any construction work inside state highway right of way. They also set residential driveway widths at 14 to 20 feet, and farm drives at 18 to 24. We build to whatever the road owner's rules call for.

Rural Floyd County also has plenty of private roads, shared drives and farm lanes that no government maintains. Those come down to the owners on the road, and private road paving often gets split among them. Where a drive crosses a road ditch, the pipe under it is the property owner's to keep clear. We check it before new asphalt goes over the top.

We come over from Cartersville on US 411, about a 25 mile run west into Rome. The locate request goes in to Georgia 811 before we dig. Call or text (706) 844-2123 to set up a look at your site.