Driveway Aprons and Approaches in Madison, WI

A driveway apron is the section that crosses the terrace, the strip between the public sidewalk and the curb, and in Madison that ground is public right-of-way that needs a City permit before any curb is cut. City Engineering's Street Terrace Permit covers residential aprons serving fewer than five parking stalls, is applied for and paid online, and takes 5 to 7 working days to review. Every contractor doing work in the right-of-way must be prequalified by the City, and the City's prequalification list includes an asphalt paver category for right-of-way work done for property owners. The apron must also fit Traffic Engineering's limits on width and position, which are tighter than many owners expect. Permit and apron costs are listed separately.

Traffic Engineering classes residential approaches by street type. A Class I approach, serving four or fewer stalls on a street with raised curb, allows an entrance up to 20 feet wide, a curb cut up to 30 feet and flares of no more than 5 feet. A Class II approach, on a street with shoulders instead of raised curb, allows a 30-foot entrance, a 50-foot approach and 10-foot flares. Both must sit at least 5 feet from the property line and 10 feet from an intersection, with 10 feet between entrances, and the permit for both is issued by the City Engineer under section 10.08 of the Madison General Ordinances.

Construction follows the City's standard specifications. The concrete driveway section is 7 inches of nonreinforced concrete over 6 inches of compacted crushed aggregate, with a half-inch expansion joint where the driveway meets the curb. The asphalt section for driveways and terrace paving is 3 inches of upper-layer mix placed in one lift on select fill. Traffic Engineering's standards tie driveway work to the City's detail drawings and to the specification section on the profile saw cut, which removes the curb head with a machine saw. Which section a particular address gets is a question for the permit review, not an assumption to make before pricing.

Neighboring communities write their own rules. Monona requires the apron in its right-of-way to be concrete, allowing asphalt or pavers only on private property, caps driveway openings at 30 feet and at half the lot frontage, and forbids breaking out a curb head with a jackhammer. Cottage Grove charges new and reconstructed approaches entirely to the property owner, except when a street or curb grade change of 6 inches or more forces the replacement, and lets owners hire their own contractor unless the village has street work planned there. The Monona page covers its permit steps.

Street projects change the timing. Madison resurfaces about five miles of street a year, milling or pulverizing the old pavement and replacing curb and gutter in spots where needed, and rebuilds other streets outright. An owner planning a new apron on a street that is due for work may be better off waiting, since the curb line and grade can change; City Engineering's project listings show which streets are scheduled. The same caution applies in Cottage Grove, where approaches that are part of a village road project are built by the village's contractor.