Cambridge paving contractor
Yes, we pave all over Cambridge
Cambridge is the seat of Dorchester County and one of the oldest colonial towns in Maryland. English colonists settled the area in 1684 and the city was incorporated in 1793. For most of the last century it was a cannery town, and the Phillips Packing Company employed as many as ten thousand people here before it closed in the early 1960s. A lot of the housing and a lot of the pavement dates from that stretch.
We get there down MD 307 through Hurlock and in on MD 16, which makes Cambridge one of our shorter runs. Between the downtown historic district, the neighbourhoods that grew up around the packing plants and the newer development near US 50, there is always work. Our paving contractor team in Federalsburg has been doing it here for three generations.
In Cambridge, water decides everything
Cambridge sits about twenty feet above sea level on the bank of a tidal river, in the second lowest lying county in Maryland. More than half of Dorchester County is less than five feet above sea level and close to sixty percent of it falls inside the hundred year floodplain. The waterfront already sees around thirty flood days a year, and the city is putting federal money into stormwater upgrades so high tides stop backing up into the streets.
For pavement that means one thing: the water table can be inches below your driveway, and the storm drains that are supposed to take your runoff are sometimes full of tide. Asphalt laid on saturated ground does not fail slowly, it fails in the first hard winter. So we dig test holes, we look at where the water actually goes, and we build the fall and the base to suit before a drop of tack coat comes off the truck. On a lot of Cambridge jobs, driveway grading is most of the work and the asphalt is the easy part.
What we handle here
What we build in Cambridge
Driveway Paving
Most Cambridge homes we work on were built between the 1900s and the 1960s, and the original drive was laid thin on soft ground. We take it out, put in a proper stone base, shape the crown so water sheds to the sides, and lay asphalt that has somewhere to send the rain. Our driveway paving in Cambridge starts underneath, where the problem always is.
Driveway Grading
Half the calls we take in low ground are really drainage calls. A drive that puddles, holds ice or washes out at the apron has a shape problem, not a surface problem. We regrade it, cut the falls to a real outlet and compact it hard. Our driveway grading in Cambridge also fixes gravel lanes that have gone soft in the middle.
Asphalt Crack Sealing
Every crack in a Cambridge lot is a funnel pointing at your base, and with the water table this high, the base cannot afford the extra. Sealing cracks while they are still thin is the cheapest work we do and it buys years. Our crack sealing around Cambridge is routine maintenance we do for homes and businesses alike.
Parking Lot Paving
Downtown Cambridge and the US 50 corridor are full of lots built decades ago on ground that moves with the tide. We rebuild them with drainage first, then a base and mat sized for the trucks that actually use the site. Our Cambridge parking lot paving covers shops, offices, churches and marinas around the city.
Why Cambridge calls us
Why Cambridge owners call Robert and Son
Because we know this ground. Robert and Son Paving has been working Dorchester County for three generations, and Bob is the third of them, and Bob was born and raised on the Eastern Shore. Nobody has to explain a high water table to us. We have been fixing the results of ignoring it for a very long time.
We are licensed under MHIC #74385, BBB A plus accredited since 2018, and everything we lay carries a two year warranty. Estimates are free, we are out Monday through Saturday from seven to seven, and we do residential and commercial both. When a surface is past sealing and past patching, our driveway resurfacing is usually the next honest step.
Where you will see us around Cambridge
US 50 runs through town as Ocean Gateway and crosses the Choptank on the Malkus Bridge, the four lane crossing built in 1987 that carries everybody between Cambridge and Trappe. Most of the newer commercial work sits along that corridor, and that is where we do a lot of lots and lines. MD 16 and MD 343 carry us out into the county.
Closer to the water, the streets of the old downtown and the neighbourhoods around Cambridge Creek are tight, historic and low. Those jobs get small equipment and careful planning. Out toward the marshes, the lanes get long and the traffic gets heavier, and a gravel driveway built properly often outlasts a thin asphalt one on soft ground.
Where we work
Driveways and lots we lay in Cambridge
We cover Cambridge and the rest of Dorchester County, and the same run takes in jobs we have in Hurlock just up MD 307 and the Trappe side of the Choptank.
Ask a paving contractor
Straight answers about asphalt paving on the Eastern Shore
Will a new driveway hold up on low, wet ground in Cambridge?
It will if the base and the fall are right. The mistake is laying asphalt on saturated ground and hoping. We dig, look at the water, build the drainage and then pave. That is the whole difference here.
My driveway floods every time the tide is high in Cambridge. Can you fix that?
Often yes, by regrading it and giving the water a route to a real outlet. Sometimes the answer is a different surface or a different shape. We will tell you what is actually possible on your lot rather than sell you a surface that will fail.
How far is Cambridge from your yard?
About eighteen miles west southwest of Federalsburg. We go down MD 307 through Hurlock and come into Cambridge on MD 16. It is one of the shortest runs we make.
Do you do commercial lots in Cambridge?
Yes, residential and commercial both. Shops, offices, churches and marina lots. Commercial sites get a heavier base and mat and we phase the work so you are not closed while we are there.
Is sealing cracks worth it, or should I just repave?
If the cracks are thin and the base is sound, sealing is by far the better buy, especially in ground that holds water. Once water is getting under the surface and the edges are breaking up, it is time to talk about a new surface.
Are you licensed and do you stand behind the work?
Yes. Maryland Home Improvement Commission licence number 74385, BBB A plus accredited since 2018, and a two year warranty on all work. We have been at this for three generations.