Call three paving companies in South Jersey and you will hear two words for the same thing: blacktop and asphalt. They are not different products. Both are made from crushed stone and sand bound with asphalt cement, poured by the same crews from the same local plants. Blacktop is the casual, residential term and asphalt is the technical one. The word a contractor uses tells you nothing about the quality of the driveway you get.
Since the material is identical, four things decide whether your driveway lasts, and none is the term on the quote. Base preparation comes first, four to six inches of compacted stone graded to drain. Asphalt thickness comes second, at least two and a half to three inches compacted for a residential driveway. Compaction comes third, rolling the asphalt while it is hot to lock the aggregate together. Drainage comes fourth, grading water off the surface and away from the base, which matters in South Jersey's clay-heavy soils.
A new blacktop driveway runs about $4 to $7 per square foot with proper base prep, so a typical 600 square foot two-car driveway lands around $3,000 to $5,000. Resurfacing an existing driveway with a sound base runs less, about $2 to $4 per square foot. A quote far below those numbers is almost always cutting the base, the thickness, or the compaction, the three things that decide whether it lasts five years or twenty-five.
Harrison Paving has installed blacktop and asphalt driveways across Gloucester, Camden, and Burlington Counties since 1985, with proper base prep and full-depth material. Call (856) 694-4181 for a free on-site quote.
Contact Harrison Paving at (856) 694-4181 for a free estimate.