Sealcoating for Ankeny Driveways and Lots
Ankeny began as a farming town founded by John Fletcher Ankeny and his wife Sarah on April 22, 1875, and it incorporated on February 28, 1903, covering a single square mile. It had 1,229 residents in 1950 and 2,964 when it was declared a city in 1961. Then the growth arrived: 27,117 people in 2000, 45,582 in 2010, 67,887 in 2020 and 76,207 in a 2024 special census. The Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate, 77,833, now puts Ankeny ahead of West Des Moines.
That pace shows in the pavement. The Census Bureau puts Ankeny's median year built at 2006, and 12,195 of its 29,781 housing units, about 41 percent, went up in 2010 or later. Much of that building sits on former farmland; Prairie Trail, for one, rose on agricultural research land that Iowa State University sold to the city in 2005. Many Ankeny driveways are therefore young, and the common question is not repair but when to lay the first coat, which the new-build sealing post takes step by step.
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Soil, snow and permits in Ankeny
Ankeny lies north of the capital, well inside the ground the Des Moines Lobe covered before it halted where Des Moines now stands. The Iowa Geological Survey notes that farmers made the lobe's poorly drained land productive by laying tile lines under the wet areas, and new neighborhoods built on former farmland inherit that ground. The lobe's typical soils run from moderately well drained Clarion on the rises to poorly drained Webster on the flats, where water sits within eight inches of the surface in a wet year when the land is undrained. A driveway graded across a former wet spot keeps that water unless the base and slope account for it.
City rules shape winter care. When the snow ordinance is in effect, parking is banned on all public streets, alleys and on-street spaces, and in The District at Prairie Trail and the Uptown business district from 2 to 6 a.m. The city asks residents not to plow, blow or shovel driveway snow into the street, and to pile it on the down-street side of the drive instead. Sidewalks must be cleared within 24 hours after snow stops falling. No Ankeny or Iowa coal-tar restriction appears on the national ban list, so sealer choice is the owner's call.
See Ankeny, IA on Google Maps — we cover the whole area from Des Moines.
Asphalt Sealcoating Services Available in Ankeny
Each service on this site is available in Ankeny as well:
See the full pricing guide for typical ranges.
Ankeny FAQs
Why is a brand-new Ankeny driveway already showing cracks?
Young pavement cracks for predictable reasons. Pavement Interactive traces transverse cracks to asphalt shrinking in cold weather, and a first winter here brings about 80 freeze-thaw days. A dip that forms in the first year or two is usually a depression from subgrade settlement where fill was not compacted well. Hairline cracks can simply be filled before the next winter; a settling dip should be photographed and measured early, while any builder warranty on the work still applies.
Where should Ankeny homeowners pile the snow from their driveways?
Not in the street. The city asks residents to avoid plowing, blowing or shoveling driveway snow into the roadway, partly so plow trucks do not push it straight back into the drive, and suggests the down-street side of the driveway instead. Keeping the pile off the pavement edge, and on ground that slopes away from the asphalt, also stops meltwater from running back across the drive and refreezing in its cracks during a March thaw.
Does replacing a driveway apron in Ankeny need a permit?
Probably. The city says work within its public rights-of-way likely requires a right-of-way permit, and an apron between the sidewalk and the street sits in that right-of-way. Ankeny asks applicants to allow at least five business days for review, requires the issued permit packet to stay with the crew on site, and wants a traffic control plan for any lane, sidewalk or trail closure. The relevant code chapter is Chapter 151, Excavations.
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