Interlocking Driveways in Markland Wood

Drive along Markland Drive or Mill Road and you see the same thing at the end of many driveways: asphalt resurfaced two or three times over the original, with a crown in the middle and edges crumbling into the lawn. Each overlay raised the surface a little. Some driveways now sit higher than the garage slab or the walkway beside them, so water runs the wrong way every spring. Before any interlock goes down, all of those layers come out, and the old gravel underneath is tested rather than trusted.

The upside of a 1960s subdivision is room. Side-splits and bungalows here generally sit on lots wide enough that a double driveway and a separate front walk fit without crowding the lawn, which isn't true of much older Toronto. That width also gives snow somewhere to go. We like to leave a planting strip or a soft edge on at least one side, because a driveway that runs fence to fence leaves shovelled snow, and the salt in it, piled against the house or the neighbour's hedge.

Markland Wood is in the City of Toronto, so Mississauga's width table doesn't apply even though the city line is only as far away as the creek. What matters here is the boulevard. The strip between your property line and the road belongs to the City, and changing the curb cut or the apron across it needs a permit from Transportation Services. Toronto's zoning also expects part of every front yard to stay soft landscaping, so a wider driveway is drawn with that in mind. If you'd rather never shovel again, a heated system can go under new pavers through a specialist partner, and it has to be decided before the base is built.