A driveway 12 feet wide and 60 feet long, with a 4-inch base, takes about 17 tons of crusher run. That is one tri-axle load.
The math, in three steps
- Measure it. Length and width in feet. Pace it off if you have to: one long step is about three feet.
- Pick a depth. In inches. The table below has the usual ones.
- Multiply. Length × width × depth in inches ÷ 12 gives cubic feet. Divide by 27 for cubic yards.
Then turn yards into tons, because stone is sold by the ton. Packed in place, crusher run runs about 1.9 tons a yard and clean stone about 1.35 tons a yard.
How deep?
| The job | Material | Depth |
|---|---|---|
| New driveway base | Crusher run | 4 to 6 in |
| Soft or wet ground | Crusher run | 6 in or more |
| Top-dress an old driveway | Crusher run or clean stone | 2 in |
| Parking pad or shed base | Crusher run | 4 in |
Worked examples
All figured packed in place. A tri-axle carries about 20 tons.
| Size | Depth | Yards | Tons |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 40 ft drive | 4 in crusher run | 4.9 | 9.6 |
| 12 × 60 ft drive | 4 in crusher run | 8.9 | 17.3 |
| 12 × 100 ft drive | 4 in crusher run | 14.8 | 28.8 |
| 20 × 40 ft pad | 4 in crusher run | 9.9 | 19.2 |
| 12 × 60 ft top-dress | 2 in clean stone | 4.4 | 6.0 |
Why the tons run higher than you'd guess
Crusher run is crushed stone with the fines left in, and the fines are what make it pack. Loose in the truck, a yard of it weighs about a ton and a half. Rolled or driven into your driveway, it tightens up, and it takes close to two tons to fill that same yard.
That's why a calculator that uses a loose weight leaves you a few tons short and a strip of driveway uncovered. The numbers here are figured packed, the way the quarries figure them.
Before you order
- Round up, not down. A second trip for two tons costs more than two extra tons on the first one.
- Low spots eat stone. If the drive has ruts or dips, add for them.
- Say what it's for. Put "new driveway base" or "top-dress" on the ticket and CAD checks the number on the call.
Got your number? Send it on a load ticket. CAD calls or texts back with a time and a price.
Request a delivery