What is the minimum comfortable turning diameter for driveway?

by Erica
(Chester, CT)

Hi- I bought this sweet but neglected house this summer.

Attached pix of current very steep (and then very flat) driveway which is close to house. I want to move it away from the house and smooth out the steepness by spreading out over its full length. There is a decrepit retaining wall which will need to be renovated when cut back. Water and sewer lines run up the current driveway where I have sketched stone pathway. The whole front yard is raised high off the street by its own front wall. Probably the part of the yard closest to the house could be regraded a bit too.

It's a country feeling "in the village" house (that needs its hideous bay window and blue vinyl siding changed) along with kitchen interior and exterior improvements

Garage currently has opening in front, facing the street. Its door is old and heavy wood (full width). Seems like changing the opening to the side shouldn't be too big a deal. Garage needs structural work inside to.

I think I would love some sort of pergola connection between garage and kitchen entrance but that is low on priority list.

I'm guessing that it would make sense to do the house renovation before tackling the driveway since there is currently tons of ugly space for several trucks. (what a bonus).

The trash collector currently comes up the driveway and I don't want to lose that. I'm told that they have long reach "arms" on truck, like 15' or something like that.

Erica,

You have a great house and the planned improvements look wonderful! I have always lived in old houses and renovated them and love the process.

The narrowest circular driveway outside width that I have used is 50 feet. This size circle is comfortable for a car, but a large truck may have some difficulty. With this small diameter circle, it is helpful to have the width of the driveway as wide as possible. In your case, you may be able to minimize the center circle to add width to the outisde circle. It appears that the circle is going to be your guest parking as well as a turn around. Having the driveway as wide as looks natural will help provide parking too.

Good luck with your renovations! Happy New Year! Thanks for submitting your question.

Nancy