Residential Highways Information Sheet:

Location, Design and Construction on Side Roads Outside Municipalities

This information is provided to assist you in the construction of your Single Family Residential driveway and help you determine:

1. Best location on your property for an access.
2. What you need to look for in developing a safe access.
3. Construction standards for a driveway.

The guidelines outlined in this information sheet apply ONLY to Single Family Residential driveways located on side roads outside municipal boundaries. Different guidelines apply to commercial, industrial or multi-family developments.

Side Roads are defined as being provincially maintained roads that are not major highways or numbered routes (e.g. Highway 1 or Highway 97).

There are a few things that you must be aware of before constructing your driveway.

You will need to decide where to construct your driveway. Once you’ve decided on your access location, you will need to consider a few safety issues to ensure it will work well and not create a safety hazard for other motorists.

There are five main issues to consider when developing a safe access.

Remember these are for your safety and the safety of other road users.

(1) LOCATION

A residence can have only one access off a provincially maintained road.

First, you should consider where you are going to position your home and how your driveway will fit into the overall layout. Think about all the seasons. What will it be like in the winter months? Will the location serve as an efficient access to your home?

It is a requirement to provide parking for two vehicles on your property.

Driveways must be located in front of your own property.

Finding the best location along the frontage of your property is very important, remembering that it will provide access to your property for the future.

(2) GRADE

Grade is the change in elevation of land. When you develop an access, the grade of your driveway should be fairly level for at least the length of your car with a bit of extra space for larger vehicles. This is important during icy conditions. You don’t want to slide onto the road when you try to stop.

If your property is higher than the road, you are required to create a small swale or depression to direct surface water from your driveway to the ditch. This will help prevent water from running onto the road and creating black ice when temperatures drop. A combination of a slight grade and the swale or depression will also help keep access debris off of the road as a result of heavy rains. It is the responsibility of the access owner to clean debris from their driveway off of the road.

(3) SIGHT DISTANCE

Imagine sitting in your car and you are about to enter the road. You look up and down the road before proceeding. The point where you observe the road is the sight distance. This is important because you need to see approaching traffic and they need to see you.

Required sight distances are dependent upon posted speed limits. Posted speed limits are the white regulatory signs and not the yellow curve advisory signs. Below is a table showing required sight distances for different posted road speed limits.

Table 3.1

At locations where sight distance is poor, you may need to clear some of the vegetation to help you achieve the required sight line distance. Remember the vegetation may grow back and you will have to clear it from time to time. It is the responsibility of the access owner to receive permission from the landowner to clear vegetation other than what is needed for the primary access construction.

(4) DRAINAGE

Drainage is the water that runs from adjacent properties, accesses and the road into the ditch at the side of the road.

Before you construct your access, you need to determine if there is a defined ditch line along your property. If there is an existing ditch, you will need a culvert. Remember that regular road ditch maintenance done by the Ministry maintenance contractor may result in an improved or deeper ditch. We require that you provide a minimum 400-mm (16-inch) diameter corrugated steel pipe (CSP). In coastal areas or areas of high rain runoff, a larger diameter pipe will be required. The culvert should be longer than the width of your driveway. The standard residential driveway is six metres (20 feet). The culvert length should be a minimum of nine metres (30 feet) to allow for the driveway fill on either side of the driveway.

(5) CONSTRUCTION

Now you know where to locate a safe driveway by addressing sight distance and drainage. Here are the standards for constructing your driveway:

• When the property is higher than the road, the grade should not be greater than 2% (0.2 metre) for the first 10 metres (30 feet) and there should be a slight swale at the ditch line.
• Driveways are six metres (20 feet) in width at the junction with the road.
• Culverts must be corrugated steel pipes with a minimum size of 400-mm (16 inches) by nine metres (30 feet) in length.
• The culvert should be placed slightly below the invert or lowest point in the ditch. Consider the implications of ditch maintenance and cleaning by the ministry maintenance contractor.
• The culvert should be covered with granular material to a depth equal to half the diameter of the culvert. For example, if the culvert is 400mm (16 inches) in diameter, the depth of the cover must be a minimum of 200mm (8 inches) in depth. This amount of cover is necessary to protect the culvert from collapse.
• Sight distance as per Table 3.1 for the particular posted speed of the road your are accessing.
• Good gravels are to be used in the construction of the driveway as per the attached copy of specifications.

Caution:

Digging into steep slopes may cause the slope to fail and fall onto the road or undermine your building area. If,

• The access is located in an unsafe location with inadequate sight lines:
• the access construction is resulting in fdrainage or debris running onto the road; or
• the access is interfering with roadway and ditch drainage,

you will be required to relocate and/or fix your access, or the Ministry will relocate and/or fix your access and charge you for the costs.

Obtain information on any buried utility. "Call Before You Dig": 1-800-474-6886

Attachments (PDF files):

• Driveway Plan Diagram: Location, Design and Construction / Residential Driveways on Side Roads
• Profile Diagram: Location, Design and Construction / Residential Driveways on Side Roads
• Culvert Specifications / Driveway Cross Section

Questions and Answers

Contacts

Please contact the Ministry of Transportation office in your area.

For a listing of Area Offices, visit:
Ministry of Transportation Offices