Concrete driveway cost in Arkansas (2026)

Concrete driveway cost in Arkansas runs $6.96 to $16.43 a square foot with us, installed. A 20 by 20 two-car driveway (400 square feet) comes to $3,000 to $7,050 before the drive cost. That’s our trip out to your place, figured from your address. A driveway that size runs above the per-foot range, since setup spreads over fewer feet. Tearing out an old drive is its own line.

Our standard driveway is a 5-inch slab of 4,500 PSI concrete on 4 inches of packed gravel. It gets #4 rebar, a broom finish, and saw-cut joints, and it starts at $8.64 a square foot. The range above includes setup. A single rate can sit a little under it. A lighter steel pick sets the low end, and stamping, a sealer, and tear-out set the top.

What moves your number is the ground and the finish, on driveways from Bentonville to Texarkana to West Memphis.

How does driveway size affect the price?

Every row prices our 5-inch slab on 4 inches of packed #57 crushed stone. Setup and forms cost about the same on any job. So a 1,000-square-foot rural approach lands near the low end per foot, and a 240-square-foot single-car pad lands near the top.

Long approaches to barndominiums, shops, and farm homesites are regular work for us. We watch the drainage and the crown, the slight hump down the middle that sheds water. And we place the joints so the slab won’t crack across the wheel paths.

What does each finish type cost?

Broom finish is the workhorse. We drag a broom across the wet concrete, and the light grooves shed water and grip wet or dry. Stamped concrete copies brick, slate, or flagstone. The crew spreads a color hardener and a release coat, then presses rubber mats in before the concrete sets. That extra material and crew time is the added cost. A stamped driveway on our standard rebar slab runs $12.57 a square foot, before the drive cost.

For exposed aggregate, we spray on a retarder, a chemical that keeps the top from setting, then wash that top layer off to show the stone. It grips in the rain and hides tire marks, so it’s popular on sloped driveways. A saw-cut pattern dresses up a plain slab for less than stamping, and the cuts work as control joints too.

For more on color, see our concrete staining cost breakdown. To compare the same work across the state line, see the Oklahoma concrete driveway cost page.

What affects concrete driveway cost in Arkansas?

Square footage. It’s the biggest factor. A bigger driveway costs more in total but less per foot.

Slab thickness. Our standard is 5 inches. Each extra inch adds concrete and a little labor, and our quote tool prices that thickness for you.

Reinforcement. Steel or fiber in the concrete holds cracks tight. You pick one, and the per-foot range already counts it, so these don’t stack. Each price is per square foot:

• #4 rebar on 18-inch centers, set on chairs and tied: $2.12. It’s in our standard slab. It carries cars and trucks and keeps the slab from drifting apart at a crack.
• Welded wire mesh (6x6 W1.4): $0.63. Fine for a thinner driveway with light cars, but not over 5 inches or under trucks and RVs.
• Fiber mesh: $0.32. The tiny fibers cut fine shrinkage cracks, but they never replace steel.

Ground and site prep. Flat, stable ground that drains well needs little more than our gravel base. Slopes, expansive clay, or more than 6 inches of fill add cost. We price that work per job, after we see your ground.

Tear-out and haul-off. Replacing an old driveway adds $2.30 a square foot to break it up, load it, and haul it off. That price is for a 4-inch slab with no steel in it. A thicker slab, one with rebar, or an old asphalt drive can cost more once we see it. If the old slab is sound but worn, an overlay may cost less than starting over.

Site access and pump truck. If the concrete truck can back right up to the forms, you don’t need a pump. On a narrow lot, a rear driveway, or a steep grade, the truck may not reach. Then a line pump adds a flat $1,780, though we wheelbarrow the concrete when we can. Long rural approaches almost never need one, because the truck drives straight in on the base rock.

Arkansas driveway prices split along soil lines more than city lines. NW Arkansas pours on Ozark rock or shallow residuum, a thin soil made of broken-down rock. Ground prep there is cheap, though we sometimes have to saw through stone. The Delta and Central Arkansas sit on expansive clay that swells and shrinks with every wet and dry spell. Pour a driveway there without moisture control or enough thickness, and it cracks along the wheel paths within three seasons. SW Arkansas near Texarkana has both kinds of ground, and Central Arkansas can have both inside one county. The ground work that makes a slab last can vary by a factor of three.

How does pricing vary by Arkansas sub-region?

Our per-foot rates are the same statewide. The drive, the ground, and the work people ask for change by region. For more on steel and mix design, see the Arkansas concrete flatwork service page.

Mixed-in color is common on new NW Arkansas homes. On Delta clay, a slab over 800 square feet may need thickened edges or post-tension. That means steel cables pulled tight after the pour.

Is concrete worth more than asphalt or gravel in Arkansas weather?

Summers here hit 95 degrees, the northern half freezes and thaws all winter, and the state gets 48 to 55 inches of rain a year.

Asphalt wins on day one. Later, the upkeep differs in kind. Asphalt needs its sealing to hold together in the sun, plus one full redo inside 25 years. On concrete, sealing is a choice. We suggest a clear penetrating sealer on most driveways to keep water out, at $0.57 a square foot, and it lasts 3 to 5 years. Gravel fits a temporary road or a rural approach, where the price up front matters more than the surface.

Steel, joints, and thickness for Arkansas ground

Settle these while the ground is being prepped, not on pour day. They decide how your driveway holds up for 25 years.

• Cars, light trucks, and an occasional trailer: our standard 5 inches with rebar. On a lighter bid, 4 inches with wire mesh on stable ground is the least to accept.
• An RV, a boat, or farm equipment parked on it: 6 inches with rebar on 18-inch centers. A 6-inch slab carries about twice the load of a 4-inch slab with the same steel.
• Clay in Eastern or Central Arkansas: 5 inches with #4 rebar, the least we’d pour on that ground. It moves enough to pull a slab apart in ways wire mesh can’t hold.

Joints. We saw-cut control joints every 10 to 12 feet, within 12 hours of the pour, per ACI 224R. Each cut goes one-quarter of the way through, so about 1 1/4 inches deep on our 5-inch slab. That weak line is where the concrete cracks as it shrinks. Without good joints, it cracks wherever it wants, usually across the middle where everyone sees it. On most home jobs, we walk the driveway with you before the pour and mark where each joint will go.

Pour-4-Polish note for garage approaches

If your driveway leads to a garage floor that will be polished or coated, the two pours should share one spec. Pour the driveway at a different thickness, mix, or finish, and the seam moves differently as it heats and cools. That can crack the garage slab right at the door. When we pour both, we match the mix, the steel, and the finish across the threshold. Our Pour-4-Polish specification process plans it that way, and so does our Arkansas barndominium slab work on rural sites.

What is included in a Bel Covo driveway quote?

A typical Arkansas driveway bid from Bel Covo includes:

• A site walk and a look at the ground before a final number
• 4 inches of base rock (#57 stone or AB-3, per AR DOT specs), graded and packed in layers
• Forms, the pour, screeding (leveling the wet concrete), and your finish
• 4,500 PSI concrete with tiny air bubbles in it, so it holds up to freeze and thaw
• The rebar, mesh, or fiber you picked
• Control joints, saw-cut within about 12 hours of the pour
• A spray-on curing coat right after we finish, one of the cure methods in ACI 308R
• The drive cost, figured from your address
• Cleanup, and hauling off the forms and debris

Most bids don’t include tearing out an old driveway, or grading and fill past 6 inches. A pump, a sealer, permits, and decorative upgrades are extra too. Permits are rare in Arkansas, but some cities ask for one.

Does where you live in Arkansas change the price?

Our NW Arkansas crew works out of the Fayetteville area. Our Eastern Arkansas crew in Forrest City covers the Delta, and Little Rock, Conway, and North Little Rock too. Those Central Arkansas towns are paired jobs, so a small stand-alone driveway there costs more per foot to reach. Hot Springs, Texarkana, and Arkadelphia sit inside our Texarkana-area coverage. The online quote tool works out the drive cost from your project address.

Why do bids vary so much?

Two bids on one driveway differ because the specs differ. A bid far below the rest usually cuts one of four corners. It skimps on the base rock under the slab, or it cuts the joints late. It uses a 3,000 PSI mix where a good bid uses 3,500 to 4,000 PSI. Ours is 4,500. Or it skips curing, so the top dries out before it gets strong. Each shortcut shows up later as cracks, or as spalling, where the top flakes off in Arkansas freeze-thaw weather. Before you sign, ask the bidder to put the mix strength on the truck ticket, the delivery slip from the concrete plant.

Related Arkansas pages and service links

• Arkansas state hub for every service we run in the state
• Arkansas concrete flatwork for shop slabs, patios, and commercial pads
• Arkansas barndominium slab for rural pours that tie the driveway to the shop
• Pour-4-Polish specification process for planning the pour and finish as one job
• Oklahoma concrete driveway cost to compare across the state line
• Get an instant price estimate with the online calculator