Nothing there yet.
That is a full asphalt installation, with ground work and a base before any paving happens
New Orleans metro
Asphalt Paving in New Orleans, LA
Tell us the surface and the square footage and the job gets priced properly instead of guessed at. We are fully licensed, bonded, and insured.
Asphalt Paving
What Does Asphalt Paving Mean, and How Is It Different From Installation?
Asphalt paving is the laying and compacting of the asphalt mat itself, whether that is over a base we have just built or over a surface that is sound enough to keep. Installation is the whole job from bare ground up; paving is the layer that carries the traffic. Which one you need depends on what is already there.
Three situations come up most often:
An old surface that is still structurally sound.
A new layer can go over it, which is quicker and costs less than starting again
An old surface that has failed underneath.
Paving over that buys very little, and replacing it is the honest answer
Asphalt Paving
How Do We Lay an Asphalt Surface?
We lay a surface in three moves: prepare and clean what the mat will sit on, place the asphalt at the specified depth, then compact it while it is hot. The third one has a time limit, which is why a paving crew works at the pace it does.
We Prepare What the Mat Sits On
A base is compacted and leveled, or an existing surface is cleaned and its failures dealt with. Anything left loose underneath will show through the new layer.
We Place the Mat at the Right Depth
Depth follows the traffic the surface actually carries, not a single figure applied to every job. A car driveway and a lot taking loaded delivery vehicles are not paved the same way.
We Compact While It Is Still Hot
Compaction is only available while the material is hot, and it is what turns loose mix into a surface that sheds water. Joints and edges are worked last so there is no open seam for water to enter.
Asphalt Paving
Which Asphalt Mix Is Right for Your Surface?
The right mix follows the use, the traffic and the season, and choosing it is our job rather than yours. What matters to you is that the surface is specified for the load it will carry, because a mix chosen for a quiet driveway can deform under vehicles it was never meant to hold.
What we take into account:
Our asphalt repair page sets out what happens when a surface carries more than it was built for.
What crosses it.
Cars, delivery vehicles, or plant and trailers
Whether loads sit still.
Standing weight deforms a surface more readily than moving weight
Drainage.
A surface that holds water is treated differently from one that sheds it
When we are laying.
Ambient conditions change the working window on site
Asphalt Paving
How Soon Can You Drive on a New Asphalt Surface?
A new surface has to cool before it takes traffic, and the honest answer is that it depends on depth, on the weather at the time and on what will be driving over it. We tell you on site what your surface needs and when it can be used, and we would rather give you a date that holds than a fast one that marks the mat.
A Fresh Mat Marks Easily
Marking a fresh surface is easy to do and hard to undo, so the wait matters more than it looks. Turning wheels on a mat that has not finished cooling leaves scuffs that stay.
Which Parts Go Out of Use
We tell you which parts of the area are unusable and on which days, before the crew arrives rather than on the morning it happens.
What Has to Be Moved, and By When
Anything standing on the surface has to be off it before we start. You get that list, with the deadline, in writing with the estimate.
Asphalt Paving
What Moves the Price of Asphalt Paving?
The price moves with the measured area, the depth the use calls for, the condition of what the mat will sit on, access for our equipment, and how much of the surface can close at once. We do not publish a price per square foot, because the same square foot costs different amounts depending on what has to happen beneath it.
The Measured Area
The area is measured on your surface rather than taken from a map or a photograph, so the figure you are quoted is the one we will actually pave.
The Depth the Use Calls For
Depth follows the traffic the surface carries. A car driveway and a lot taking loaded delivery vehicles are not paved to the same specification.
What the Mat Will Sit On
An existing surface changes the job more than anything else does. Paving over sound asphalt and building up from ground that has to be dug out first are different pieces of work, and only one of them can be judged from a photograph.
Access and How Much Can Close
How our equipment reaches the surface, and how much of it can go out of use at once, both move the schedule. You get the whole thing in writing before anything starts, at no cost.
Asphalt Paving
What Keeps a New Surface in Good Condition?
Three habits do most of the work, and none of them costs much next to the repair it prevents. Our asphalt maintenance page covers the routine, and seal coating covers the protective coat itself.
Keep Water Moving Off the Surface
Water that cannot leave sits at the low point, works into the base and takes its strength away. Keeping the drainage lines and the low spots clear is what stops that starting.
Deal With a Crack While It Is One Line
A single crack is a sealing job. The same crack after a season of Gulf Coast rain has branched and reached the base, and by then it is a patch or a repair.
Seal When the Surface Is Ready
Sealing follows the condition of the mat rather than a fixed calendar. We tell you when yours is ready instead of booking it to a date that suits a schedule.
Asphalt Paving
Where Do We Pave?
We pave across the New Orleans metro, and each area we cover has a page of its own with the local detail on it. If your property sits on the edge of these areas, call us and we will tell you plainly whether it is in range.
Greater New Orleans
New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, Gretna, Harahan and River Ridge, across Orleans and Jefferson Parish.
The Northshore
Slidell, Covington, Mandeville and Madisonville, across St. Tammany Parish.
The River Parishes and Baton Rouge
St. Rose, LaPlace, Hammond and Baton Rouge, across St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, Tangipahoa and East Baton Rouge Parish.
Standards
What Do the Asphalt Specifications Actually Say?
Two claims repeated across the paving trade do not survive a reading of the source documents.
A
Minutes, not days
Asphalt does not have a cure time. It gains full strength on cooling and can typically support traffic within minutes of construction, and hours only in rare cases depending on lift thickness and ambient conditions. A newly built two inch surface is generally a few minutes.
B
A few days is advice
The association guidance still recommends waiting a few days before opening a new residential driveway, and keeping a heavy moving truck off a fresh mat. That is best practice advice about protecting a new surface, not a curing requirement.
C
No single minimum temperature
The minimum is set by lift thickness and mix type in the governing specification. Colorado DOT Table 401-3 sets 60 F for a top layer under 1.5 inches, 50 F from 1.5 to under 3 inches, and 45 F at 3 inches or more. Tennessee DOT Table 407.09-1 as revised 12-27-23 sets 45 F unmodified and 55 F modified under 2.0 inches, and 35 F at 2.0 inches or more. Neither of those is Louisiana's specification.
D
Do not seal a new mat early
A well designed low traffic pavement should not require sealing for approximately 2 to 5 years, and the association guidance is not to apply sealer until the driveway is at least several months old.
Not claimed here: 3 to 7 days before traffic
Widely repeated, but every page carrying it was a paving company's own marketing or a content site, and the Asphalt Institute contradicts the framing outright. It does not appear on this page.
Not claimed here: 50 F is the minimum
Repeated as a flat rule. The two state specifications read in full show the minimum is thickness and mix dependent, and those two specifications do not even agree with each other.
Common questions
What Do People Ask About Asphalt Paving?
How Long Does Asphalt Paving Take?
It depends on the measured area, the depth your use calls for, and how much of the surface can close at once. A driveway and a phased parking lot are different pieces of work. You get the working dates in writing before anything starts, so you know which days the area is out of use.
How Long Does an Asphalt Driveway Last in Louisiana?
Lifespan on this coast is set by heat, water and what sits on the surface. New Orleans records about 85 days a year at 90 degrees or above and more than 63 inches of rain, and both of those age a mat. Drainage and dealing with a crack early extend it more than anything else.
Can You Pave Over an Existing Asphalt Driveway?
Only when what is underneath is still structurally sound. A new layer over solid asphalt is quicker and costs less than starting again. Where the base has failed, an overlay buys very little and replacing the surface is the honest answer. We tell you which of the two you are looking at on site.
How Thick Should an Asphalt Driveway Be?
Depth follows the traffic the surface actually carries, not a single figure applied to every job. A car driveway and a lot taking loaded delivery vehicles are not paved the same way. We specify the depth from your own surface and its use, and it is set out in the written estimate.
Is Asphalt Cheaper Than Concrete for a Driveway?
Asphalt usually costs less to install and is quicker to lay, and a worn surface can often be resurfaced rather than replaced. Concrete tends to last longer before major work is needed. Which one suits you depends on the load the surface carries, the drainage, and how long you plan to hold the property.
What Is the Best Time of Year to Pave in New Orleans?
Ambient conditions change the working window on site, and rain matters more here than cold does. Paving is workable across most of the year on this coast, with the schedule built around wet weather rather than around frost. We confirm the window for your surface when we assess the site.
Do You Need a Permit to Pave a Driveway in New Orleans?
It varies by parish and by what the work involves. A new surface inside private property is treated differently from anything that touches the public right of way. We confirm what your job needs with the relevant authority before the crew arrives, and we tell you what applies before work starts.
How Soon Should a New Asphalt Surface Be Sealed?
A new surface is sealed when it is ready rather than on a fixed calendar, once the mat has had time to take the coat. Sealing too early traps what still needs to leave the surface. Our seal coating page covers the protective coat itself and when it is worth applying.
The rest of the work
What Else Do We Do With Asphalt?
Pick the one that matches your surface instead of reading one page written for all of them.
Asphalt Installation
Bare ground to finished surface. The base is built and compacted first, and how well that is done decides more about the next twenty years than the mix laid over the top of it.
See installation
Asphalt Maintenance
Crack filling and routine upkeep on a surface that has not failed. It is the one service on this list you call about before anything is wrong, and it is what keeps the other five further away.
See maintenance
Asphalt Repair
Potholes, splits and patches that have let go, dealt with in place. The moment water gets past them and reaches the base underneath, a repair stops being a repair and turns into a repave.
See repair
Asphalt Replacing
The old surface comes out and is hauled off, then the area is repaved. The demolition and removal is what separates this from an overlay, and it is where much of the extra work sits.
See replacing
Seal Coating Asphalt Paving
A coat over a surface that is still structurally sound, on the two to five year interval the sources give. It will not rescue a failing base, and it does not go on a mat that is only weeks old.
See seal coating
Ready for a Free Asphalt Paving Estimate in New Orleans?
Tell us the surface and the square footage, and the job gets priced properly instead of guessed at.
Driveways
Residential drives across the New Orleans metro, measured and quoted on the surface you actually have.
Parking lots
Commercial lots, surfaced and graded so water leaves them, then kept that way.
Every area we cover
Each area has its own page, written from its own facts. The service areas page goes straight to any of them.
