Asphalt Paving in Smithville, MO

Asphalt paving in Smithville starts with water. The city lies along the Little Platte River, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed just east of town to create Smithville Lake, a reservoir built primarily for flood control. Homes and businesses here sit in a landscape shaped by that river, and the way a driveway or parking lot handles runoff has a lot to do with how long it lasts.

Grading comes first

Water is the main enemy of asphalt. When it sits on the surface, it soaks into small cracks; when it runs along the edges, it softens the soil holding the pavement up. On every Smithville job we look at:

1. Which way the lot slopes and where water collects after a rain 2. Where the downspouts discharge and whether that water crosses the driveway 3. The edges, which need firm, compacted support so they do not crumble 4. The outlet, meaning where water goes once it leaves the pavement, so we are not just moving a puddle onto a neighbor's yard

We set the finished grade so water leaves the surface quickly and heads toward the yard, a swale or the street rather than toward the garage or foundation.

Heavier loads near the lake

Smithville Lake covers 7,190 acres with about 175 miles of shoreline, and plenty of households here own boats, campers or work trucks. A trailer parked in the same spot for a whole winter, or a loaded truck turning on a hot afternoon, can press dents and scuffs into a thin driveway. If heavy vehicles will use your drive, we plan for a thicker asphalt section over a deeper compacted stone base, and we can widen the parking pad so trailers are not resting on the edges where asphalt is weakest.

Downtown and commercial lots

The Downtown Smithville Historic District, listed on the National Register in 2014, takes in 30 contributing buildings built between about 1868 and 1964, roughly bounded by Bridge, Church, Commercial and Meadow streets. Businesses there and along the US 169 corridor tend to have tight lots where every stall counts. We offer:

• Parking lot paving and overlays
• Asphalt repair and patching for potholes and failed sections
• Crack sealing and sealcoating on a schedule that keeps lots open
• Line striping with accessible spaces placed according to the 2010 ADA Standards, which the Department of Justice says apply when a lot is restriped

For a small lot, the DOJ table calls for one accessible space, van-accessible, for 1 to 25 total spaces, and two for 26 to 50. Accessible spaces must be level, with a maximum slope of 1:48 in any direction, which matters on the sloped sites common near the river.

A town that works in two counties

Smithville lies in both Clay and Platte counties. Depending on where your property sits, different county offices may be involved in records or rules outside city limits. Inside the city, we confirm any requirements for work at the street edge before starting.

Homeowners who stay

About 84.2% of Smithville homes are owner-occupied, and 90.9% of residents lived in the same house a year earlier (Census ACS, 2020-2024). For people who plan to stay, regular maintenance is the cheapest way to make a driveway last: fill cracks before winter, sealcoat every few years, and fix low spots before they turn into potholes.

Talk to us

Call (816) 307-2608 or send photos of the area, ideally one taken during or right after a rain so we can see where the water goes. We will visit, measure and give you a written estimate.

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