No access to driveway for entire month during street repaving?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone dealt with this and have any advice?

Starting in May, they will be tearing out our street and repaving. They say it could take a month. We will have to park our vehicles on other streets during this time, potentially two blocks away.

I’m just trying to imagine things like bringing groceries home. A cart of some sort is likely what I’ll need, and to make multiple trips?

But what about things like UPS deliveries? No food delivery for an entire month? What if you need a new water heater or something?

I do realize I’m catastrophizing, but this is a huge inconvenience and I’m just trying to get an idea of what next month might look like.

[Anonymous]

Who is doing the work? HOA? County? State?

I'm in VA and they are soooo fast. One night for ripping it out, next night they finish half, 3rd night they're done, 4th night they repaint. They aren't nearly as quick in neighborhoods since they can't work overnight, but they're still fast.

[Anonymous]

A few years ago the town repaved our entire neighborhood and put in new sidewalks. We parked in our driveway every day.

[Anonymous]

If that’s the worse thing that happens to you in your life you’re pretty lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago the town repaved our entire neighborhood and put in new sidewalks. We parked in our driveway every day.

They said we should absolutely anticipate it taking a month, and that we will have no access to our driveways. We’ve received multiple notices warning us, so we have ample time to move vehicles.

They did another street last summer and I do remember it taking a really, really long time.

[Anonymous]

Like PP said, it will happen quicker in your street but you cannot time it to the exact day, which is really frustrating, unless you ask the foreman of the team when you see them in your neighborhood - they will have the best idea of when the work will move to your street. Some people on the team might not speak English (or pretend not to, to avoid dealing with irritated homeowners!). The foreman usually has great English.

Last year we had weeks and weeks of water main replacement, when they would come without warning, shut off the water, drill into the street, etc. They had issued a blanket warning about replacing water mains, but it went from 2025 to 2026, with a break for winter! They did knock on our door the day they dug a huge hole at the end of our driveway to connect the new water main to our pipes. With the holes in the street and their heavy equipment blocking everything, there were days when we could not use our driveway and had to find parking elsewhere. Some days we did not get mail or deliveries, but that wasn't as much of a hassle as I thought - the postman made a later round sometimes or delivered the next day.

Also, the jackhammering made our entire house shake. I was a bit worried about that.

[Anonymous]

They might just mean their work window is a month long. The actual work should be shorter. Like when the cable company says they'll come between 8 and 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They might just mean their work window is a month long. The actual work should be shorter. Like when the cable company says they'll come between 8 and 6.

Perfect!

But in the meantime, what do the logistics look like?

[Anonymous]

When this happened to us it was a water main replacement followed by repaving of our entire community. They divided the community into sections and gave each assigned dates. The window was quite long but we didn’t have a lack of access for the entire window. It was more of a window of when work could be completed. I believe we only had a complete loss of access for maybe a week for the water main and maybe a week for the paving. Maybe even less for paving. I’m sorry I don’t remember more clearly but I do recall being concerned and it not being as bad as I feared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They might just mean their work window is a month long. The actual work should be shorter. Like when the cable company says they'll come between 8 and 6.

This was how things went when they repaved my street. The "no street parking" signs covered a 4-6 week window because they didn't know when they'd actually get here. But once they showed up it only took a couple of days and we could still access the neighborhood during that time by driving on the side they weren't actively working on.

[Anonymous]

What a hassle. Perhaps you can take a trip or work from home a few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They might just mean their work window is a month long. The actual work should be shorter. Like when the cable company says they'll come between 8 and 6.

Perfect!

But in the meantime, what do the logistics look like?

You park your car somewhere else?
Have you never lived without a car?

[Anonymous]

You do what everyone else who lives without a driveway does and just park as close as possible. not a big deal in the least.
They are also just giving you a big window - the actual work will likely take 2 days. I wouldn't schedule tons of work on your home in the window but other than that, it's a non issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do what everyone else who lives without a driveway does and just park as close as possible. not a big deal in the least.
They are also just giving you a big window - the actual work will likely take 2 days. I wouldn't schedule tons of work on your home in the window but other than that, it's a non issue

People suggesting they will tear apart a whole street, lay groundwork, and replace, and that it will be able to be driven on within TWO days are insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago the town repaved our entire neighborhood and put in new sidewalks. We parked in our driveway every day.

They said we should absolutely anticipate it taking a month, and that we will have no access to our driveways. We’ve received multiple notices warning us, so we have ample time to move vehicles.

They did another street last summer and I do remember it taking a really, really long time.

It took more than a month for us as well. They tore everything up, then graded the dirt surface before laying the asphalt. They paved one side of the road at a time so we could always drive down the street. No one was ever required to park somewhere else.