Parking Lot Paving in Allentown, PA

Parking lot paving in the Allentown area covers everything from a ten-space lot behind a Hamilton Street storefront to truck courts beside the distribution buildings out toward Fogelsville and Breinigsville. The Lehigh Valley is one of the leading warehouse and distribution areas on the East Coast, and that traffic is hard on pavement. A lot built like a driveway will rut and crack under delivery trucks.

Thickness and base for commercial traffic

HomeGuide lists commercial and heavy-use pavement at 4 inches of asphalt or more, compared with 2 to 3 inches for a home driveway. Loading areas, dumpster pads and drive lanes that see box trucks need more base and more asphalt than the parking stalls do. We size each area of the lot for what actually drives on it rather than using one thickness everywhere.

New lot, overlay or mill and pave

A lot with surface wear and a sound base can usually be overlaid. Where the new surface has to match existing curbs, drains and building entrances, we mill off the top layer first so the finished grade does not rise. Areas with base failure, usually where water stands or trucks turn, are cut out and rebuilt full depth. HomeAdvisor lists asphalt parking lots at about $2 to $4.50 per square foot, or $400 to $1,130 per space, and notes most lots need resurfacing every 15 to 20 years.

Drainage and inlets

Water in a parking lot has to reach an inlet, a curb opening or a swale without crossing a walkway or freezing in a drive lane. Low spots around inlets are a common failure point because water sits there and works into the base. On limestone ground, we are especially careful that water is collected and sent where it is meant to go.

Striping and accessible parking

The Department of Justice states that restriping a lot triggers the 2010 ADA Standards for accessible parking. A lot with 1 to 25 spaces needs at least one accessible space, 26 to 50 needs two, 51 to 75 needs three and 76 to 100 needs four. At least one of every six accessible spaces must be van accessible. Car spaces need to be at least 96 inches wide with a 60-inch access aisle, and the slope of spaces and aisles cannot exceed 1:48. We lay out the restriping with those rules in mind.

Keeping the business open

Most commercial owners cannot close their lot for a week. We phase the work so at least one entrance and part of the parking stay open, and schedule paving on weekends or after hours where that is practical. Churches can be paved between services.

Maintenance plans

Crack filling every year or two, sealcoating every few years and restriping when lines fade keep a lot out of the full-replacement column for much longer. We can price those as separate items so you can budget for them.