Road base — crusher run, Class II aggregate base, dense grade, whatever your quarry calls it — runs $15 to $30 a ton picked up, $25 to $50 delivered, and $30 to $60 a ton installed and compacted. Translated to projects: a 12×20 paver patio needs about $150 of material, a two-car driveway pad $380, and a full 100-foot driveway around $1,150 before delivery. The material is cheap; the math and the minimums are what trip people up.
Quarries sell by the ton, and the pickup price is the cheapest version of the product you'll ever see. The 2026 bands below bracket the market from bulk crusher run to clean decorative stone:
| Product | Pickup ($/ton) | Delivered ($/ton) | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crusher run / crush and run | $20–$30 | $25–$50 | Driveway and patio base |
| Class II aggregate base | $15–$30 | $25–$45 | Spec base under pavers, asphalt |
| Recycled concrete base | $12–$25 | $20–$40 | Budget base, drainage OK |
| #57 stone / crushed limestone | $35–$50 | $45–$60 | Top dressing, drainage |
| Pea gravel | $20–$40 | $30–$60 | Walkways, decorative |
Two line items hide under "delivered." The truck fee itself runs $50 to $250 per load depending on distance, and small orders pay for it hard — a 4-ton delivery can carry nearly the same truck fee as 15 tons, which is why neighbors so often combine orders. Meanwhile "installed" pricing — $3 to $6 a square foot for a crush-and-run driveway, per Gravelshop's 2026 guide — covers grading, compaction in lifts, and edge shaping that a DIYer trades for a plate-compactor rental and a couple of weekends.
Tonnage comes from three numbers: area, compacted thickness, and density (about 1.4 tons per compacted cubic yard for road base). Standard specs are 4 inches under patios and walkways, 6 inches under driveways. The table runs common projects through the same math as our aggregate base calculator — dimensions × thickness × 1.4, plus 5% waste, at $35 a ton delivered:
| Project | Dimensions | Depth | Tons | Material @ $35/ton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paver patio | 12 × 20 | 4 in | 4.4 | $152 |
| Walkway | 3 × 40 | 4 in | 2.2 | $76 |
| Two-car pad | 20 × 20 | 6 in | 10.9 | $381 |
| Short driveway | 12 × 50 | 6 in | 16.3 | $572 |
| Full driveway | 12 × 100 | 6 in | 32.7 | $1,143 |
For context on what turns material into a finished job: a complete gravel driveway averages about $1,500 all-in (most run $600 to $1,800 per LawnStarter), so the $572 of stone in that 12×50 row is under half the project — delivery, excavation of organic soil, geotextile, grading, and compaction make up the rest.
Coverage math is worth memorizing because quarry talk is in tons and your project is in square feet. At 1.4 tons per yard: one ton at 4 inches compacted covers about 58 square feet; stretch it to 2 inches and it covers 116; spec it at the full 6-inch driveway depth and it drops to 39.
| Compacted depth | Sq ft per ton | Tons per 1,000 sq ft | Typical spec |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 in | ~116 | 8.6 | Top-up layer, paver bedding |
| 4 in | ~58 | 17.2 | Patios, walkways on good soil |
| 6 in | ~39 | 25.7 | Residential driveways |
| 8–12 in | ~29–19 | 34–52 | Wet clay, heavy-vehicle areas |
The 8-to-12-inch row is the one people skip and regret. On clay or poorly draining soil, a 4-inch base over soft subgrade settles and reflects through whatever sits on top. The cheaper fix is usually thicker base plus geotextile fabric between soil and stone — the fabric keeps the stone from gradually punching into the native ground and losing the thickness you paid for.
For the base layer, the answer is almost always the fines-containing product. Crusher run is a blend of angular rock and stone dust; wetted and compacted in 2-3 inch lifts, the fines lock the layer into something closer to pavement than gravel. Clean #57 stone has no fines — it drains beautifully and stays that way, which is exactly why it makes a poor base: it never locks. Use it above the base for drainage, or as the visible topping on a drive, not as the structural layer.
One ordering note: you buy loose, you get compacted. Base rock settles 15-20% by volume when it's compacted, so a pile that looks like 5 yards becomes 4 in the ground. The calculator's 1.4 tons/yd³ already assumes compacted density — order against the compacted volume and the waste factor, and you won't come up short on the last lift.
Enter area and thickness — tons, cubic yards, and delivered cost, with densities by product type.
Aggregate Base Calculator →Price the stone at $25-$50 a ton delivered, hold yourself to 4 inches under patios and 6 under driveways, and compact in lifts. Run your exact dimensions through the aggregate base calculator for tons to order, then move up the stack: the paver calculator counts the surface layer this base carries, and the concrete calculator sizes a slab pour if you go rigid instead. Our paver patio cost guide prices the whole stack, base to poly sand.
Crusher run and Class II road base run $15 to $30 a ton picked up at the quarry, $25 to $50 a ton delivered, and $30 to $60 a ton installed with grading and compaction. Clean #57 stone and crushed limestone run higher at $35 to $50 a ton.
At 6 inches compacted, figure about 39 square feet per ton: a 20×20 two-car pad needs roughly 11 tons, a 12×50 driveway about 16 tons, and a 12×100 driveway about 33 tons. Add 5% for uneven subgrade and edge waste.
A full gravel driveway project averages about $1,500, with most landing between $600 and $1,800 including base material, delivery, grading, and compaction. Material for a 12×50 driveway at 6 inches is only about $570 at $35 a ton delivered — labor and delivery make up the rest.
At a 4-inch compacted depth, one ton covers about 58 square feet; at 2 inches, about 116 square feet; at the 6-inch driveway spec, about 39 square feet. The math assumes 1.4 tons per compacted cubic yard.
For a base layer, crush and run: its fines lock together under compaction, which is what keeps a patio or driveway from shifting. #57 stone is clean angular rock with no fines — it drains well but stays loose, so it belongs as a decorative or drainage layer on top of a compacted base, not under one.