Asphalt Paving in Carson, CA

Asphalt paving in Carson has two very different sides. On one side are neighborhoods of single-family homes; about 76.8 percent of Carson's occupied homes were owner-occupied in 2010, one of the higher rates in the South Bay. On the other are refineries, warehouses and truck yards, a few miles from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with Interstate 405 and the Harbor Freeway nearby. The city's largest employer in its 2021 report was a refinery logistics operation. Paving here means knowing which kind of job you are looking at.

Driveways in a city built since 1968

Carson incorporated on February 20, 1968, and the 1970 census counted 71,150 residents. By 2020 the city had 95,558. Most of its single-family homes date from the 1950s through the 1970s, when the area was filling in, so many driveways are now fifty to seventy years old. Some were concrete and have broken into slabs; some are asphalt that has been patched until little original surface is left. We replace them with a compacted base, the right thickness of asphalt, and slope set toward the street.

Pavement for trucks

A residential driveway is typically 2 to 3 inches of asphalt over 6 to 8 inches of gravel base. Cost guides call for 3 to 4 inches over 8 to 10 inches for heavier vehicles, and 4 inches or more for commercial and heavy-wear lots. A yard where loaded trucks turn, stop and back into docks all day needs more than that at the points of heaviest wear. We map a yard by load (gates, turning areas, dock aprons, trailer parking) and build each zone for what it carries.

Get a Free Estimate

A mild climate that still ages asphalt

Carson sits 6 to 8 miles from the ocean and has cooler summers than most of the Los Angeles Basin: average highs run about 66 degrees in January and 78 in August. It gets about 3.3 inches of rain in an average January and essentially none in August. That mild weather gives a long paving season, but the sun still oxidizes asphalt year after year, and the winter rain that does fall finds every open crack. Sealcoating and crack sealing on a schedule are the cheapest ways to keep pavement here in service.

Old oil ground

Carson's oil history goes back to the 1920s at Dominguez Hill, where the Callender No. 1-A well came in on September 7, 1923 at 4,068 feet. Some properties in the area sit on ground with industrial history. On any site like that we check the subgrade before paving and remove material that will not support pavement.

What a typical project includes

• Walk-through to measure, check drainage and identify failed areas
• Written estimate with removal, base, asphalt and striping as separate lines
• Demolition or milling of the old surface
• Base repair and compaction
• Hot-mix asphalt placed and rolled to the stated thickness
• Sealcoat after curing, and striping for lots and yards

Carson is our base, and we work across the South Bay and Harbor Area: Torrance, Gardena, Lomita, Redondo Beach, West Carson, Harbor City, Wilmington and San Pedro, plus Long Beach, Signal Hill, Compton, Paramount, Bellflower, Lakewood and Hawthorne, and up onto the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Some of these are independent cities with their own rules for work at the street; others, like Wilmington, Harbor City and San Pedro, are part of the City of Los Angeles; and West Carson is unincorporated county land. We check which applies before any work touches the public right-of-way.