Parking Area....need to add one!

[Sagginit]

I would skip gravel. My mother has gravel in her driveway (previous owners did it and its a temporary home so shes living with it) but it was a nightmare this winter. She couldn't dig clear down like pavement and when the snow melted it would puddle up and form ice again overnight. She got her car stuck on random ice patches a few times, not to mention the gravel got kicked all around trying to clear it. I think its worth paving it. Being from Jersey unless you are near NYC public transit is terrible so even years down the road if you sell it will be a plus for new owners (especially if you live in a town with no street parking ordinance).

 

[pklein09]

Gravel was not my first choice because it's difficult to shovel and all the weeds that could crop up. (I have a hard enough time with my flower beds!!!) I called two contractors yesterday. The first one said he'd be to my house between 6 and 7 last night, and never showed or called. The second one called back while I was out, so I'll call him today. I need to find at least one other one, preferably two, for quotes. We're right smack in the middle of NJ - half way between Philly and NYC. I usually say we're outside of Princeton because it sounds better than saying we're outside of Trenton!!!

 

[MarcW]

A lot will depend on where you live. In rural areas you will probably always have to own your car. In large urban area owning and operating a car is very expensive. We are paying 30 to 40 cents per mile to operate our cars (mostly because they sit unused 98+% of the time) Once you have self driving taxis you can eliminate the labor costs. If you had cheap taxis that charged 10 to 20 cents per mile many would chose to use them instead.

I think this is a great deal for low and some middle income residents of urban areas but there is no way that most suburbanites are going to give up their cars. They live in the burbs because they prefer space and luxury over economy and convenience. I've been in small towns that didn't even have a taxi service. For rural dwellers it is out of the question.

I also think widespread driverless cars are more like 15-20 years out. Driver assisted computer controlled cars yes. Completely driverless? No.

I am personally REALLY looking forward to driverless cars. Think about it, you could black out the windows and one of the seats could flip up into a restroom facility. No more stops on long road trips. I would still want to own my vehicle. I don't want to be trapped for hours in what is basically a public space. Oh, what is this sticky stuff on the seat? Yuck.

 

[descovy]

My parents driveway is gravel and probably just a little wider than 3 parking spaces if they were to park straight, side by side. I I I I

However, one car goes in the garage straight (other half of the garage is used as a workshop) The rest of the cars use the 2 remaining car widths to park at an angle. Slightly behind the one in front of it. Maybe front tire in line with the front car's rear tire. / / / (but imagine one line slightly lower than the next) You would back out into the free lane.

We had as kids, up to 4 vehicles parked this way.

 

[pklein09]

My parents driveway is gravel and probably just a little wider than 3 parking spaces if they were to park straight, side by side. I I I I

However, one car goes in the garage straight (other half of the garage is used as a workshop) The rest of the cars use the 2 remaining car widths to park at an angle. Slightly behind the one in front of it. Maybe front tire in line with the front car's rear tire. / / / (but imagine one line slightly lower than the next) You would back out into the free lane.

We had as kids, up to 4 vehicles parked this way.

Our drive is only 1 car width wide, with a few inches to spare on each side. It's a side entry garage, so you have to "make a left" to get in the garage. The top part is only as wide as the 2 garage doors. There is enough room to back out of the garage and drive down the driveway going forward. If you parked a car in that area, backing out of the garage would be tough, i.e. 6-7-8 point turn to get around. Backing down the drive is a pain because it's so long. In the winter when the snow was so bad, DS would park his car behind my garage door because he left before I did in the morning. He's back to parking on the grass now that the weather is nice.

One of the contractors is stopping by late this afternoon. He already told me what his minimum price would be to bring out his crew and his equipment.