Is asphalt cheaper than concrete?

Answer: Kind of… For the most part asphalt is cheaper than concrete when done in volume. When a concrete driveway fails and its time to replace it, its usually cheaper to put it back in with concrete. Most concrete driveways don’t require the base prep that asphalt driveways do. This is why bridges are made of concrete and not asphalt. If you see a bridge that is paved with asphalt it always has concrete as its base.

Asphalt driveways require a substantial compact (Gravel) base rock. Asphalt is only as good as the base it is installed on. For example: If you pave over a soft area the asphalt will fail sooner. Imagine trying to roll out cookie dough over a pillow vs. a hard surface such as a cutting board. The dough (in this case asphalt) will move around and not cooperate with the (roller) rolling pin. It will roll out uneven. Some areas will be thin and other areas thick.

When we tear out a concrete driveway and replace it with asphalt we almost always have to remove the base material and replace it with base rock. This requires excavation of the existing concrete, what little gravel if any, and the dirt/soil in order to get a minimum of 8 inches of base rock after compaction.

Once the excavation of existing driveway and spoils are completed we can then place down ground fabric and base rock.

Once base rock is installed, graded and compacted we can pave.

If you are just going to be replace existing concrete with new concrete the process goes as follows. Remove existing concrete, install forms, and pour new concrete.