Asphalt Paving Across the Lenexa Area
Driveways, business-park lots, and resurfacing that holds — because a new surface over an unfixed problem comes apart along the same lines it always did.
Tarmasters paves and resurfaces driveways and commercial lots across Lenexa, Kansas. Over Martin-Woodson series clay-loam that keeps cracks moving, whether a new surface holds depends entirely on what is left underneath it — so we look first and quote second. Insured, bonded, paving since 2014.
A good share of what we are called to look at in Lenexa is a resurfacing job that did not work. The lot was overlaid, it looked excellent for a season, and then the old cracks came back up through the new asphalt in exactly the pattern they had before. That is reflective cracking, and it is the most common way money gets wasted on pavement in this city — the resurfaced streets around Old Town show it plainly.
It is also entirely predictable. Before an overlay goes down you can tell whether the layer underneath is stable enough to carry one, and if it is not there are real treatments — milling deeper, an interlayer, saw-and-seal — that change the outcome. What does not change the outcome is putting two inches of new asphalt over a cracked surface and hoping.
Lenexa is about 58,384 people with a genuinely modern commercial core at City Center and a much older east side, and we work all of it out of Lee's Summit. Insured and bonded, and direct about whether your lot wants sealing, an overlay, or rebuilding.
What we get right on Lenexa jobs
Four conditions shape the work here. Open each one.
The clay under Johnson County
Johnson County clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry, creating seasonal movement that cracks pavement from below. Every Lenexa lot we build starts with geotextile separation and 6–8 inches of compacted crushed limestone to isolate the slab from subgrade movement.
Low spots that hold water
Lenexa's topography creates natural low spots where water pools on commercial lots. Without engineered drainage grading and properly placed curb-and-gutter systems, standing water saturates the clay subgrade and accelerates structural failure.
Two very different pavement ages
Old Town still carries pavement from the 1950s to 70s, much of which is genuinely at the end of its structural life. The 87th Street Parkway and City Center corridor is five to ten years old and in excellent condition. The mistake is treating the second like the first — a premium surface that young needs preventive work, not reconstruction, and the money is far better spent keeping it where it is.
Industrial volume on the western corridors
Lackman Road and Renner Boulevard carry heavy vehicle traffic serving the warehouse and distribution corridor along I-35 and K-10, and the 95th Street interchange is a genuine pressure point. Lots on those routes need a heavier section at the entry and drive aisle than the parking bays require, and about 38 freeze-thaw cycles a year finish whatever the load starts.
The work we cover in Lenexa
Commercial paving, driveways, and repair have dedicated Lenexa pages. The rest are covered across the metro.
Business-park, retail, and distribution lots — with the section set by what actually uses each part of the site.
A new wearing course where the structure underneath will genuinely carry it, and an honest no where it will not.
Full-depth repair of the areas an overlay would only hide — and the reason the overlay lasts once it goes down.
Replacements in Four Colonies and Green Trails, new work in Falcon Valley and the western subdivisions.
Cutting through a failed surface rather than building on top of it — the step that stops old cracks coming back.
The right work on the City Center-era surfaces: keep water out now and the overlay conversation stays years away.
Binder protection on sound pavement. It does nothing for a surface that is cracking from below.
Layout, fire lanes, and the accessible connections Lenexa lots need between parking and the trail network.
Working in Lenexa
Tarmasters is a Kansas City–owned paving contractor and the asphalt division of Ford Concrete and Paving, working across the metro since 2014 with our own crews, pavers, and milling equipment. Owning the milling machine matters on this particular problem — it means "mill deeper" is a decision we can make on site rather than a change order.
Commercial work runs under City of Lenexa / Johnson County building codes, and Lenexa holds real standards on stormwater and on the accessible connections between lots and the city's trail network. Both come into scope on a lot being re-laid.
Insured and bonded. Measured estimate, fixed price, firm sequence — and if the honest answer is that an overlay will not hold, you will hear that before you spend anything.
Will an overlay actually hold?
Six conditions we find under existing surfaces in Lenexa, and what each one means for resurfacing. This is the conversation that should happen before an overlay is priced, not after it fails.
| What is under it | Overlay holds? | What it needs first |
|---|---|---|
| Tight thermal and shrinkage cracks, base still sound | Yes | Rout and seal the cracks, then a levelling course. Saw and seal over the worst lines if they are wide. |
| Wide, connected alligator cracking | No | That pattern means the base is flexing. Full-depth removal and rebuild of the affected area, then overlay. |
| Old concrete pavement beneath the asphalt | Only with treatment | The joints will reflect through. A geosynthetic interlayer, a thicker levelling course, or saw-and-seal over each joint. |
| Cracks already reflected up through a previous overlay | Not a second time | Mill through the old surface. If the cracking runs full depth, full-depth reclamation is the honest answer. |
| Rutting or a depression in one area | No | The subbase has moved there. Fix the cause first — an overlay over a depression becomes a depression. |
| Oxidised, ravelling surface over a firm structure | Yes | Mill to grade, tack coat, overlay. This is the case an overlay was invented for. |
Where the answer is no, the work is full-depth repair of the failed areas first, or reconstruction where the failure is general rather than local.
Our Lenexa-area coverage
Residential work runs through Falcon Valley, Canyon Creek, Four Colonies, Green Trails, and the older eastern subdivisions; commercial and industrial work concentrates at Lenexa City Center, Pine Ridge Business Park, College West Business Park, Greystone Industrial Park. Access is off I-35, I-435, K-10, 87th St Pkwy, and Renner Blvd.
Cities around Lenexa
Every city we serve across Kansas and Missouri.
Lenexa paving questions
What is reflective cracking?
It is an old crack coming back up through a new surface. When a lot is overlaid, the cracks in the layer underneath keep moving with temperature and load, and that movement concentrates right at the same line in the new asphalt. Within a season or two the new surface splits along the old pattern. It is the single most common reason a resurfacing job disappoints, and it is predictable before the work starts.
Can reflective cracking be prevented?
It can be delayed substantially, and sometimes avoided. The options are milling deep enough to remove the cracked layer, a geosynthetic interlayer between old and new, a thicker levelling course to spread the movement, or saw-and-seal — deliberately cutting a joint in the new surface directly over the old crack so the movement has somewhere controlled to go. Which one is right depends on what is underneath.
Our lot is six years old and still looks good. Should we do anything?
Yes, and this is where money goes furthest. A surface in that condition — much of the City Center and 87th Street Parkway corridor is exactly here — wants crack sealing on cycle and clean drainage, nothing dramatic. Doing that keeps it from ever reaching the overlay decision. It is far cheaper than resurfacing and it works.
Why does Old Town pavement need so much more work?
Because a lot of it dates to the 1950s through 70s and has already been resurfaced at least once. At that point the surface you can see is not the structure, and the structure is what has failed. Reconstruction is the honest answer more often there than anywhere else in Lenexa — and it is genuinely different work from what the newer corridors need.
Does Martin-Woodson series clay-loam play into this?
Directly. Johnson County clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry, which is what keeps the cracks underneath moving in the first place. That is why an overlay over unaddressed cracking fails here faster than it would somewhere with stable ground, and why base isolation — a compacted limestone base with a geotextile separator — is what a lasting job is built on.
Ready to pave it right?
Get a straight estimate and a clear timeline. Tarmasters Asphalt Paving handles driveways, parking lots, and repairs across the Kansas City metro.
Call Now: (816) 789-0700