Have a large very-old driveway that must be replaced.  It is U-shaped with a rectangular pad in front of the house.  There is a good slope from the top down to the front door and I usually get puddles in storms – I get a lot of winter rain as I live about 2 miles from the Pacific Ocean.  The ground is hard packed sand dune.  There will only be cars driving over it at maybe 5MPH and foot traffic.

It looks something like this:

Street
U
[ ]
house

I priced concrete and it was bid at $22K ( 3,200 sf) including removal, disposal, and some excavation.  I can’t afford that.  Want to try black-top or crushed rock.  If crushed rock I want to prevent dirt from washing down from the street where the 2 ends of the U are.

Reading the articles here it seems like there are many choices for crushed rock and some debate about weed barriers.  I guess the questions are:

Recommendation for crushed rock on sand – thickness, underlayment – I need to be able to communicate this to contractor without “Oh I thought you meant” syndrome;

Recommendation for asphalt – thickness, underlayment, other considerations

Underlayment (like some amount of compacted other product before the crushed rock) and/or fabric;

Drainage: how to collect – I have a place to dispose of it.

I know this is a lot, so any help will be appreciated.