Here's something that catches Rib Mountain homeowners off guard: you can pour a concrete driveway all the way to the street, and the village will still want the last stretch, the part in the public right-of-way, to be asphalt. As a concrete contractor working in Rib Mountain, WI, that's the first thing we sort out on a driveway job, before anyone talks about finishes.
Rib Mountain Driveway Aprons: Concrete Stops at the Right-of-Way
Rib Mountain's code allows any hard surface on your own property, but in the public right-of-way the approach may only be asphalt, unless the street itself is concrete with curb and gutter. The village also says it will only replace approaches in asphalt when it does road work. If you want a concrete apron anyway, it takes a special exception: the owner pays for removing and replacing it later, and the village isn't responsible for damage to it.
That's the opposite of the City of Wausau a few miles north, which requires concrete aprons on curbed streets. Two other numbers worth knowing before you plan a new or wider drive in the village:
- Driveways are capped at 25 feet wide at the property line.
- A repair covering more than half the original driveway area means the whole driveway has to meet current rules, including the apron material.
Driveway, right-of-way and excavation permits all go through the Village of Rib Mountain, even now that commercial building permits are handled by the City of Wausau.
Hillside Concrete Driveways
Rib Mountain itself rises about 670 feet above the land around it, more than any other hill in Wisconsin, and plenty of the lots on its slopes carry some of that grade. A sloped driveway changes the job in three ways:
Water runs the length of it
On a steep drive, meltwater runs down the slab instead of off the side. It needs somewhere to go before it reaches the garage, usually a cross slope toward the yard or a trench drain at the bottom.
The base can wash
Gravel base on a slope erodes from the downhill edge if water gets under the slab. The edges get extra attention, and the concrete is pitched so water stays on top of it, not under it.
Traction beats looks
A steep driveway gets a coarser broom finish than a flat one. Smooth or sealed decorative finishes are slick on a grade in January.
Rock shows up
The area sits on hard quartzite and weathered granite that locals call rotten granite. Digging can hit it closer to the surface than expected, which changes the base work.
