Driveway Replacement with Channel Drain and Raingarden

Erickson Residence

Todd and Christina felt it was time to redo their driveway and it was important for them to consider ways to do it in a more earth-friendly manner. An asphalt driveway replaced the broken concrete and made things easier for them in the winter to remove snow.

Later a channel drain was installed to reroute water to the side of the driveway keeping the stormwater runoff on their property. Now every rain event, water coming off a portion of the house and the upper portion of the driveway, enters into the channel drain that diverts the runoff into a beautiful tiered raingarden. Not only are they capturing over a 1” rainfall event each time but they’re supporting native plants, pollinators and contributing to replenishing the aquifer!

Let’s elaborate on asphalt a bit more. Conventional asphalt, although seemingly not ecologically-sensitive has some redeeming aspects that do make it sensible when it comes to the environment, and you:

• most highly recycled product in the world (based on weight)

• low carbon footprint compared to a permeable driveway

• easy to repair and overlay unlike concrete

• in winter climates, it can be much easier to shovel or snow blow.

• most economical compared to other surface types (spend your money on other things)