Driveway Options to Consider when Planning Your Home
When planning for a new home, one of the aspects of design most prone to being overlooked is how you will handle traffic and parking. Oh, sure, you may include a garage for your own cars and maybe even work into the design scheme a stretch of land suitable for turning into a simple driveway. Those things are fine if you don’t plan on having a lot of visitors or don’t expect to face any obstructions to unfettered entry and exit or don’t have to deal with oversized vehicles.
If you have a large group of family or friends you expect to make regular visits or if your family is on the verge of expanding ownership between two cars or you own an RV or regularly attach things to your vehicle for towing then you may need to spend a bit more time planning on the practicalities of things like parking, turning around, fitting in multiple vehicles and working on the larger size of the automotive spectrum. The layout of your house as it relates to parking space the road should also be taken into consideration.
Those blessed with enough space should always include at least give a little thought to a circular driveway. Nothing is more efficient and easy to use than a driveway in which cars enter from one direction and exit out the other. Depending on just how much space you’ve got to use, a circular driveway may be all you need to handle heavy traffic during parties and get-togethers. Another attraction of planning for a circular drive is the ability to landscape it for aesthetic purposes or to provide a privacy shield.
An alternative to the circular driveway for those lacking adequate space is a less expansive U-shaped driveway big enough for two or three cars. The main thing to keep in mind here is that you want to try do all you can to create enough space to allow for a car parked behind the lead car to be able to safely back out and get onto the street.
An option to consider when working a garage or carport into you building plan is the back-and-turn option that essentially looks like a capital T in which the vertical line down has been shortened. This driveway allows for driving straight into garage or carport from the off the road, but provides the option of backing up (down the squatted vertical line of the T) just enough to turn the car and be able to drive straight onto the road instead of having to back out onto the road. Anyone living on a busy street that you want to avoid having to back out onto should give serious consideration to this driveway design.
Those with kids who know they will one day have more cars garage to house them should think very seriously about planning the design of their home to include saw-toothed parking spaces. This is also a good option for those who expect regular visitors. The saw-tooth parking spot design is much cheaper than expanding your garage, but also helps to avoid traffic jams inside your own yard. Essentially, this parking plan involves setting off enough of the property to one or both sides of the driveway leading to the garage to allow however many cars you want to park at a diagonal angle.
