SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
The length of the driveway.
Measure from the street to the parking area.
Tools needed: Tape measure or measuring wheel
The width of the driveway.
A single-car driveway is typically about 3 m (10 ft) wide.
Tools needed: Tape measure
2-3 in (5-7.5 cm) is standard for residential driveways.
Driveways carrying heavier vehicles may use 3-4 in (7.5-10 cm) for durability.
Estimated asphalt driveway needed
5.891 tons
- Driveway area
- 390 sq ft
- Volume
- 81.25 ft³
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Asphalt Driveway Calculator: 5.89 tons — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Compacted hot-mix asphalt has a commonly-cited average density of about 145 lb per cubic foot
- Residential asphalt driveways are typically 2-3 in thick over a compacted gravel base
Inputs used
- Driveway Length
- 39 ft
- Driveway Width
- 10 ft
- Asphalt Thickness
- 2.5 in
Intermediate steps
- Driveway area
- 390 sq ft
- Volume
- 81.25 ft³
What this calculation does not cover
- ASPHALT IS ORDERED HOT AND LAID TO A DEADLINE, which is the constraint no tonnage figure carries. A load cools on the truck, and a small residential job that cannot take a full load in one placement either pays for a part load or gets material that has lost its workability. The practical minimum order, not the calculated tonnage, is often what governs.
- The 145 lb/ft³ is COMPACTED density. Loose mix off the truck is substantially less dense, so a depth checked before rolling is not the depth you are paying for — and a mat laid to the finished depth before compaction finishes thin.
- The base beneath it decides whether any of this lasts. Asphalt is a flexible surfacing that distributes load into what is under it; laid over an inadequate or unconsolidated base it fails by rutting and edge break regardless of its own thickness.
- No allowance for the edge. An unconfined asphalt edge ravels, and either a haunch of extra material or an edging detail is needed — neither is in a rectangular volume.
- The 145 lb (66 kg) per cubic foot density is applied as a single constant to every mix, so the tonnage moves in direct proportion to it — a plant running a different aggregate gradation or binder content will weigh out heavier or lighter, and their own ticket density is the figure to order against.
- Length times width is taken as one plain rectangle, which leaves out the flare where the driveway meets the street, any turning bay or parking spur, and the extra material a curved or ragged edge swallows.
- Nothing is added on top of the geometric quantity: there is no allowance for mix left cooling in the truck bed, for over-run past the edge of the mat, or for a load that arrives too cold to lay and gets rejected.
- Thickness is treated as the finished compacted depth, because a compacted density is applied to it — the loose mat behind the paver will gauge deeper than the number entered, so setting the screed to that depth leaves the job short once it is rolled.
- A single thickness is spread over the whole area as one lift and the field stops at 6 in (152 mm), so there is no split between a binder course and a wearing course, and heavier commercial or truck-loaded sections fall outside the range the input accepts.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Part of a bigger job
Or plan the space itself: measure it once, doors and windows included, and this figure comes back worked out on that space, with what goes with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-05 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations2
- Compacted hot-mix asphalt has a commonly-cited average density of about 145 lb per cubic foot
- Residential asphalt driveways are typically 2-3 in thick over a compacted gravel base
Cite this page
Your workspace
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Tools and safety for this job
To lay paving. Generic types, no brands, no prices.
Protection this work requires
- Cutting or grinding concrete, masonry, screed, tile or fibre-cement board releases respirable silica: cut wet or extract at the tool, and wear a P2/N95 respirator at minimum — a nuisance dust mask does not filter it.
- Saws, grinders and breakers run above 85 dB, where hearing damage accumulates and does not recover: defenders or plugs for every cut, not just the long ones.
- Breakers and grinders cause permanent nerve damage: limit continuous trigger time, keep hands warm, and stop if fingers tingle or blanch.
- Boards, blocks and bagged material cause most lasting back injuries on small sites: two people or a lifter for full sheets, and never a bag on one shoulder up a ladder.
Show the 8 tools this job needsHide tools
Essential
Plate compactor
Rubber mallet
Shovel and spade
Spirit level
String line and pins
Wheelbarrow
Recommended
Block splitter
Optional
Angle grinder
Also needed as materials: cutting and diamond discs.
what each landscaping tool is for, and the spec that decides which to buy where one does.