The guide

A gravel driveway lives or dies on water - get drainage and crown right and the surface lasts for years.

• Start with drainage: shed water off the surface with a crown (about 4%, half an inch of fall per foot) and roadside ditches.
• Use angular crushed aggregate with fines that lock together - not round pea gravel that migrates.
• Build on a compacted base; consider geotextile fabric over soft clay subgrade to stop pumping and rutting.
• Maintain the crown by grading periodically, pulling material from the edges back to the center.
• Inspect culverts and ditches after every major monsoon runoff and fix small erosion before it becomes a gully.