Asphalt Paving in Kemah, TX

Asphalt paving in Kemah has a lot to do with visitors. The Kemah Boardwalk opened in the late 1990s, and by 2012 Kemah ranked as the top tourism spot in Greater Houston. That brings packed parking lots every weekend, and lots that host thousands of cars need clean striping, solid surfaces at the entrances and quick repairs when potholes appear.

Low ground

Kemah's official elevation is about 6.6 feet. It sits on the west side of Galveston Bay in the northeast corner of Galveston County, across the Clear Creek Channel from Seabrook. With so little height above the water, pavement has to be shaped carefully so rain leaves it, and storm surge is part of the long-term picture.

Hurricane history

Hurricane Carla severely damaged the town in 1961, and Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston County as a Category 2 storm on September 13, 2008, leaving power outages, destroyed homes and businesses, and debris-covered streets. A waterline inside a boardwalk restaurant still marks the flood level. After storms like that, pavement can look fine for a while and then fail as the saturated base gives way.

Homes and rentals

Kemah is small, about 1,807 people in 2020, but it has a mix of older bayfront homes, newer builds and short-term rentals. Rental owners usually want a clean, sealed driveway and fast turnaround between bookings; homeowners near the water need edges and grades that hold up to storms.

SH 146 and city streets

State Highway 146 runs through the center of Kemah, 15 miles north to Baytown. Driveways and commercial entrances onto a state highway need a TxDOT access permit for new or changed connections, and city streets follow Kemah's own rules. We tell you which applies before work starts.

Scheduling in a tourist town

Weekends in Kemah are busy, so commercial paving, sealcoating and striping work best on weekdays or early mornings. We plan phases so part of a lot stays open, and coordinate deliveries around traffic on SH 146. For homes and rentals, most driveway jobs take a few days, and sealcoating needs a dry window plus time to cure.

Lot maintenance for busy businesses

For restaurants, shops and attractions, the lot is the first thing customers see. A maintenance plan keeps it from becoming a capital project: crack filling during a dry stretch, patching potholes before they grow, sealcoating every few years and restriping when lines fade. We can put together a schedule and pricing so you can plan for it, and handle repairs fast when something breaks before a busy weekend.

A town of many names

Kemah was platted in 1898 as Evergreen, rebuilt after the 1900 hurricane, and got its post office under the name Kemah in 1907. Its shrimp fleet dates to the 1950s, after the Clear Creek Channel opened, and boat traffic still shapes the waterfront lots.

Cost range

HomeAdvisor lists commercial asphalt lots at about $2 to $4.50 per square foot and sealcoating at $0.15 to $0.30. HomeGuide lists striping at $4 to $5 per stall and $25 to $40 per accessible stall. Home driveways run about $5 to $12 or more per square foot. Your written estimate is the price.

Low-lying homes

For homes near the water, we set the driveway so it drains toward the street or a swale and support edges against washouts.