LESS DRIVEWAY IS MORE
For generations, people have sought small private roads leading to their garages, but these driveways come with significant drawbacks. Blacktop is toxic, contributes to flooding, and in many suburban areas, driveways occupy a substantial portion of valuable land. Before asphalt, driveways were made of stone, oyster shells, or dirt. Yet, at some point, we replaced those natural, sustainable materials with blacktop, one of the most harmful substances, and placed it right next to our homes. Now it’s time to rethink this choice and replace blacktop with something more sustainable that will benefit both us and the environment.
Our yards often have far too much driveway space. It's time to challenge conventional thinking and consider removing as much as possible. The less blacktop, the better. Replacing part or all of your driveway will open up room for gardens, flowers, play areas, grass, and spaces to relax while inviting nature closer to your home. These little roads often claim a hefty 1,000 to 1,200 square feet of yard space and most people don't even park their car in the garage! Instead, garages often end up as cluttered storage units, wasting valuable space. But what if you reimagined that garage? With a little creativity, it could transform into a stunning pavilion, an outdoor kitchen, or even a functional home office—turning an eyesore into an enjoyable part of your home.
Our driveways are, quite literally, drowning us. Among all the environmental impacts of driveways, their role in amplifying downstream flooding is one of the most pressing in this era of climate change. Blacktop is impermeable, meaning it doesn’t absorb water. Instead, every drop of rain that hits it runs straight into municipal storm drains as runoff. During storms, this runoff amounts to millions of gallons pouring into nearby creeks and rivers. When storm drains clog, that water can back up into neighbors' basements or, in extreme cases, cause life-threatening floods. Even when drains work perfectly, the sheer volume of runoff overwhelms downstream systems. Take New Jersey, for example: the state receives 30-50 inches of rain annually. Just one square foot of asphalt generates up to 30 gallons of runoff each year. A typical 1,000-square-foot driveway produces 30,000 gallons of runoff annually—water that doesn’t need to flow off your property. Multiply that by the number of homes in a small town like South Orange, NJ, and you’re looking at nearly 220 million gallons of runoff per year flooding local tributaries. And that’s based on historic rainfall. Precipitation is projected to increase over the next ten years, meaning the problem will only worsen.
The good news? With just a few projects over the last handful of years, we’ve already replaced more than 4,300 square feet of blacktop with natural, permeable surfaces, offsetting more than 125,000 gallons of runoff annually. That’s pretty incredible. These once bleak, underused driveways have become beautiful, functional design elements that improve both your quality of life and the environment.
If you don’t use your driveway, consider removing it. Not only will it reduce runoff and flooding, but it can also enhance your home’s aesthetic and value.
