Asphalt Paving in Allentown, PA

Asphalt paving in Allentown has to handle a real winter. About 33 inches of snow falls at the airport in a typical season, mostly in January and February, and January nights average near 22 degrees. That means months of water seeping into small cracks, freezing, expanding and thawing again, plus plows, shovels and salt. A driveway or parking lot that is built on a compacted stone base, sloped to shed water and kept sealed handles those months well. One laid thin over soft ground starts breaking up within a few winters.

Why paving costs what it does

One of the most common questions people search about paving is why it is so expensive. Most of the price is not the black surface you see. It is the digging, the hauling, the crushed stone, the compaction equipment and a crew that has to place hot mix before it cools. National cost guides put a new asphalt driveway at about $5 to $12 or more per square foot (HomeGuide) and $7 to $15 per square foot (Angi), and HomeGuide notes some contractors set minimums of $2,000 or more because the same trucks and rollers show up whether the job is large or small. Small driveways cost more per square foot than large ones for that reason.

The ground under the Lehigh Valley

The valley sits in the Great Appalachian Valley, a band of limestone between Blue Mountain and South Mountain. Limestone and dolostone dissolve slowly in water, which is why Pennsylvania American Water describes sinkholes as common in the state's karst areas and points to stormwater soaking through cracked pavement as one way they get started. Allentown has its own example: a large sinkhole in 1993 condemned the Corporate Center building on North 7th Street. For a homeowner, the practical point is simple. Water should run off your pavement and away from it, not pond on it or pour into the ground at one spot. We set slope on every job, point out where downspouts and low areas will cause trouble, and recommend a fix before paving over the problem.

What a solid driveway looks like

HomeGuide describes a typical residential build as 2 to 3 inches of compacted asphalt over 6 to 8 inches of compacted gravel, and 3 to 4 inches over 8 to 10 inches of base for heavier vehicles. Commercial lots need 4 inches or more. Your quote states both numbers for each area, so you can compare bids on the same terms instead of guessing.

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Streets, sidewalks and alleys in Allentown

Many Allentown homes, especially the rowhouses and twins in Center City, the Wards and the older parts of the West End, park off a rear alley. City code defines an alley as a right-of-way no more than 24 feet wide, and Chapter 545 makes opening the surface of any city street or alley without a permit a violation. Applications go to the Department of Public Works at least three working days ahead, with a deposit and proof of insurance. If your project stays on your property, none of that applies. If it touches the alley, the curb or the sidewalk, we explain the process and the timing at the estimate.

Our six services

• Asphalt driveways: new and replacement driveways, gravel-to-asphalt conversions, widening
• Asphalt resurfacing: an overlay on a surface that is worn but still well supported
• Parking lot paving and striping: lots for shops, offices, churches, apartments and warehouses
• Sealcoating: a protective coat every few years once the asphalt has cured
• Asphalt repair: potholes, sunken areas, broken edges and utility cuts
• Crack filling: sealing cracks before winter so water stays out of the base

When to schedule

Hot mix needs warm, dry ground to compact properly, so most new paving here happens from late spring into fall. Sealcoating needs dry weather and temperatures of roughly 50 to 95 degrees, and crack filling is best done in late summer or early fall, before the first hard freeze. Repairs that cannot wait, such as a pothole at the end of a driveway, can be patched in cold weather and properly fixed in the season.

Allentown is our home base, and we work across Lehigh and Northampton counties: Bethlehem, Easton, Whitehall, Emmaus, the Macungies, Salisbury, the Saucon townships, Catasauqua, Northampton, Nazareth and more. The valley is one region, but the details change from town to town. Center City Allentown means tight alley access and city street permits. Upper Macungie means newer subdivisions and heavy truck traffic around the warehouse parks. Salisbury and Upper Saucon climb up South Mountain, where slope and runoff drive the design. Each town page below covers what is specific to that place.