How to Use This Calculator
Enter your driveway length and width in feet. Set the depth in inches — 4 inches is the standard for residential passenger vehicle driveways, 6 inches for clay-heavy soil or heavy vehicle use. Select Crushed Gravel from the type menu for a standard driveway base. The calculator returns cubic yards for your bulk delivery order and the equivalent weight in tons. A 10% settling allowance is included in the result. For driveways with a curved section or a flare at the street, calculate each rectangular portion separately and add the cubic yard totals. Call your local quarry with the cubic yard number and they will convert to tons for pricing.
How to Calculate Gravel for a Driveway
The formula: cubic yards = (length × width × depth ÷ 12) ÷ 27. Three steps — convert depth to feet, find cubic feet, convert to cubic yards.
Example: a 40 × 12 driveway at 4 inches deep. Step 1: 4 ÷ 12 = 0.333 ft. Step 2: 40 × 12 × 0.333 = 160 cubic feet. Step 3: 160 ÷ 27 = 5.93 cubic yards. Add 10% waste: 5.93 × 1.10 = 6.5 cubic yards. Order 7 cubic yards to have a comfortable margin.
To convert to tons for quarry ordering: multiply cubic yards by the material density. Crushed gravel is 1.40 tons per cubic yard. For our example: 6.5 × 1.40 = 9.1 tons. Round up to 10 tons when calling. Gravel is measured wet; actual delivered weight may be higher than dry density calculations suggest.
Driveway Gravel Tips
Use angular stone, not round. Crushed stone with angular, irregular edges compacts into a stable, interlocked surface. Round gravel like pea gravel rolls under tire pressure and never fully stabilizes. If you want a decorative surface layer, put 1 to 2 inches of 3/8-inch angular stone over a 4-inch crushed stone compacted base. The base does the structural work; the top layer does the aesthetics.
Compact in layers. Pour 2 to 3 inches of gravel at a time and compact with a plate compactor before adding more. Dumping the full depth at once means the bottom layer never gets properly compacted. Properly compacted gravel loses 15 to 20% of its loose volume — factor that into your order or compact after delivery and top-dress before finishing.
Install edging before you spread gravel. Steel or plastic landscape edging along both sides contains the gravel and prevents it from migrating into lawns and gardens. Set edging stakes 8 inches apart for straight runs, 4 inches for curves. Six-inch-tall edging is the minimum for a 4-inch deep gravel driveway.
What to Buy
For driveway base: 3/4-inch crushed stone, also called road base or crusher run. Order in bulk from a local quarry for any driveway over 15 feet long. Most quarries have a 2-ton minimum delivery and charge by the ton. Call with cubic yards and ask them to convert.
For small repairs or a short apron extension: 50-pound bags of crushed stone from Home Depot or Lowe's cover about 0.5 cubic feet per bag. Buy from one pallet to keep stone color and size consistent. For anything over half a cubic yard, bulk delivery is cheaper and far less work. Factor delivery against bag cost and labor time before deciding.