Driveway culverts and swale aprons in Palm Bay, to the city's pipe and grade spec
The apron is the part of your driveway the city cares about, because it crosses the swale that drains the street. We install the culvert pipe and mitered ends the permit calls for, pour a reinforced apron to the road grade, and fix the drainage that sank the old one.
Palm Bay's streets drain the way General Development Corporation designed them to in 1959: rain runs off the pavement into a grassy roadside swale, along the swale to a culvert or an inlet, and into the Melbourne-Tillman canal grid that carries it to Turkey Creek and the Indian River Lagoon. Every driveway on a swale street crosses that swale on a culvert pipe, and Palm Bay Code § 176.020 requires a permit to build, alter or repair anything in the road right-of-way — the apron, the pipe, the swale itself. The city furnishes the pipe size and the grade with the permit, so the swale keeps flowing under your driveway instead of backing up in front of it.
When an apron fails, it almost always fails at the water. The culvert ends silt up or get crushed by a delivery truck, the swale erodes or a neighbor fills theirs, a downspout dumps at the apron edge, and the flow finds a way under the slab and carries the sand out with it. The apron drops an inch or two at the road, cracks across the pipe, and gets worse every wet season. We handle both halves of the fix: the drainage — flushing or replacing the pipe, pouring new mitered ends, regrading the swale to the city's profile — and the concrete, either foam-lifting a sound apron back to grade or cutting it out and pouring a new five- to six-inch reinforced apron on a compacted base. New driveways, widened aprons, second accesses on corner lots and Compound driveways that need a first-ever culvert go through the same Public Works permit and get the same pre-pour and final inspection.
What's included
City pipe and grade spec
The Public Works permit specifies the culvert size and the invert grade for your frontage; we install to it — corrugated or reinforced pipe, bedded and backfilled properly.
Mitered ends
Poured or precast mitered end sections at both ends of the pipe so the swale banks stay put and the mower doesn't crush the pipe.
Reinforced apron, 5–6 inches
Thicker than the driveway, rebar on a grid, poured to meet the road edge cleanly and pitched so the street doesn't drain onto your driveway.
Swale regraded
The swale on your frontage shaped back to the city profile so water flows to the pipe instead of ponding — the part most 'apron repairs' skip.
Permit and inspections
Driveway and Lot Drainage permit on the iMS portal, the 7000 pre-pour and 7010 final inspections scheduled and passed.
Lift or replace — honestly
If the apron is sound and just dropped, foam lifting plus a culvert clean-out is a fraction of the cost. We'll tell you which one you need.
Culvert and swale apron cost in Palm Bay, FL
| Job | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New culvert pipe + mitered ends + apron (single driveway) | $2,400 – $5,200 | Permit included |
| Replace crushed or silted culvert, reuse sound apron | $1,500 – $3,200 | Ends and swale regrade |
| Foam-lift a sunken apron + clean culvert ends | $900 – $2,200 | Same-day, drive on it that evening |
| Cut out and replace failed apron, 5–6" reinforced | $1,800 – $3,900 | Adds pipe if the old one is bad |
| Second access or corner-lot second apron | $2,800 – $6,000 | Second permit |
| Swale regrading and sod on your frontage | $450 – $1,400 | Often the whole problem |
These are 2026 Brevard County ranges so you can budget. Your written price is itemized — demolition and haul-off, base, thickness and steel, finish, joints, sealing, permit — and good for 30 days.
Recent work
Questions we get about driveway culverts & swale aprons
Who is responsible for the swale and culvert in front of my house?
The city owns the right-of-way, but the driveway culvert and apron serve your lot, and the work to build, alter or repair them is permitted to the property owner under Code § 176.020. Keeping the pipe ends clear of grass and silt is on you; the city's stormwater rules in Chapter 177 govern how the swale has to function. When a GO Roads project rebuilds your street, the city generally handles the swale as part of the road job — the apron that has to meet the new grade is usually yours.
What size pipe do I need?
Whatever the permit says. Public Works furnishes the pipe and grade specification for your frontage after the permit is issued, sized to the swale's flow, so we don't guess and you don't end up with a pipe the inspector fails. Most single residential crossings use a 15-inch or 18-inch pipe; corner lots and low blocks can be different.
Can I pave the swale so it stops eroding?
No — the swale has to stay a swale so the street drains, and filling or paving it without a permit is a code violation that can come back on you at sale. What you can do is have the swale regraded to the city profile, the culvert ends mitered so they don't wash out, and sod re-established. That stops the erosion legally.
How long does an apron job take?
A lift-and-flush is a morning. A new pipe, ends and apron is two to three days: excavation and pipe on day one, forms and steel and the pre-pour inspection on day two, the pour on day three, and a week before a car crosses it. The permit itself can add a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the city's queue, so we file it the day you sign.