Driveways and Drainage

There is a standard for how driveways should be connected to the roads. The standard is enclosed with this information. When you install your driveway (or pave an existing one) be sure to follow the standard. The purpose of  this standard is to ensure vehicles can negotiate the driveway slope and equally important that water draining along the road can cross the driveway.

Too many times people do not make provisions for the water to cross over the driveway or under it in a pipe. If done improperly, the driveway acts as a dam and the water backs up behind it. During heavy rains the water will puddle upstream of the drive and  eventually work its way around by finding the next low point. The result can be draining on to private property. In bad cases the water will pool and lay there for hours or days waiting to evaporate or seep into the ground.

Ensuring the water can cross the driveway eliminate a lot of  this problem. Also remember the source of the water is not just from draining your property, by your uphill neighbors as well. DPPOA cannot stop this water from draining down a road right of way, we can only help to efficiently channel it ultimately to a lake or the bay. In heavy rains the volume of water can be more than might be imagined because it can be collected from large areas that are miles square in size.

Sometimes we see people try to stop flow into their drainage swale, but that is futile as it is not going stop Mother Nature from sending  water downhill. As elementary as it sounds water does not flow up hill and if you keep this in mind when doing driveways you will eliminate headaches.

Drainage systems are a community wide asset like the road  system. If you create drainage problems from driveway construction or improper recontouring of a drainage swale in the road right of way you will be charged to rectify the problem. Also, please do not put grass clippings and other yard waste in the swales because clogs up downstream drainage pipes causing more problems and costly maintenance (which we all pay for).