Retrospect: berm on the driveway

Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor mentions a question he often wondered about.

In the Annapolis Valley, early 80s, displaying wealth overtly wasn’t customary. Yet, even in that sleepy place, new trends did arrive. The ones that did were noticeable, and one such involved newly paved driveways.

It’s not that people hadn’t had paved driveways before – they certainly had. However, 1980-83, numerous houses got newly paved driveways. The houses themselves were not new, so changes to them stood out.

What interested me was the typical presence of a berm on a newly paved driveway. The berm was never along the side, as a curb would be; always it crossed the driveway like a speed bump would. Usually it was near the road.

To me, the berm somewhat distorted the flat elegance of the paved driveway. I never understood why it would be there, but nearly always was. As I recall, our driveway in the Annapolis valley was paved, but didn’t have a berm. It wasn’t newly paved, though.

Decades later, I decided to look up the issue on the Internet. It turns out that, reasonably enough, the berm on a driveway is typically set there to control water flow.

Our driveway, high in the middle, had no need to divert water, since it immediately ran off the sides. Moreover, it ran steeply down to the road: water couldn’t enter our driveway from the road.

Many of the lots were flat along the road, however. I suppose it’s possible that a berm lying across a driveway, near its entry, would direct water entering from the road to the lawn either side. Then, said water wouldn’t pool (or freeze in winter) somewhere further down the driveway.

I guess that’s an age-old question answered:)

Source:

Colorado Pavement Solutions