How Wide Should a Walkway Be? Widths by Use, Paver Size and Base

You’ve laid a garden hose from the driveway to the front door, and now you have to decide how wide to make the walk. Too narrow and guests walk single file or step onto the lawn. Pick a width that ignores the paver, and the crew ends up cutting a thin strip down the edge.

So how wide should a walkway be? Plan on 4 to 5 feet for a front walk, at least 3 feet for a side or garden path, and at least 36 inches of clear width anywhere a wheelchair has to go. Then fine-tune the number so it fits your paver and border, and expect the dig to run about a foot wider than the walk.

Walkway Widths by Use

Paver makers agree on the basics. Unilock recommends 4 to 5 feet for a primary front entrance walk and at least 3 feet for a standard backyard walkway. Cambridge Pavingstones calls 36 inches standard but suggests at least 4 feet for the walk to the front door, so two people can walk side by side.

• Front entry walk, 4 to 5 feet. Four feet fits two people side by side, and five gives them room to pass without stepping on the lawn.
• Side yard or service path, 3 feet. That’s room for one person, a wheelbarrow or the trash cans.
• Garden path, 3 feet if a wheelbarrow uses it. Cambridge says a path with infrequent use can be narrower than its 4-foot rule of thumb.
• Wheelchair or walker, at least 36 inches of clear width under the ADA Standards, with a 60-by-60-inch passing space every 200 feet.

Our own numbers line up with theirs. On our paver walkway cost page, 3 feet is the minimum we recommend, and 4 feet is the width that lets two people walk side by side.

Front Walk vs. Garden Path

A front walk carries more than people walking in pairs. It takes groceries, packages and strollers, and in snow country it takes a shovel or a snow blower after every storm. If you clear it with a blower, make the width a whole number of passes so you aren’t making an extra pass for the last few inches.

A garden path does a different job. You walk it alone and slowly, and a narrow path through planting can feel right where a front walk would feel cramped. Keep it at 3 feet if a wheelbarrow or mower has to use it, and go narrower only where you’ll always walk single file.

Accessible Walkway Width

If someone in the house uses a wheelchair or walker, or may later, build to the ADA numbers. The standards are written for businesses and public facilities, and they make a clear yardstick for a walk at home.

• Clear width of at least 36 inches. It can narrow to 32 inches at a point such as a doorway, for no more than 24 inches of length.
• A passing space of 60 by 60 inches every 200 feet, which a 5-foot walk gives you along its whole length.
• Running slope no steeper than 1:20, or 5 percent. Steeper sections must be treated as ramps, which have their own rules.
• Cross slope no more than 1:48, which works out to 1/4 inch per foot.

Clear width means clear. Plants that spill over the edge, a mailbox post or a light fixture all eat into it, so leave extra room where the walk runs between beds.

Cross slope also ties width to drainage. At 1/4 inch per foot, a 4-foot walk ends up 1 inch lower on one edge and a 5-foot walk 1 1/4 inches lower, the same pitch we give our patios. On a wheelchair route, pitch it a little less, since 1/4 inch per foot is the ADA maximum and leaves no room for error.

Pick a Width That Fits the Paver

Pavers come in modules, and the width should match one. Nicolock notes that concrete paver sizes are built on 6-inch increments. Brick-style 4×8 pavers work in 4-inch steps instead. When the width divides evenly, the edge rows stay whole, and when it doesn’t, the last row has to be cut down the whole length of the walk.

CMHA’s construction spec says not to cut pavers below a third of their size in street work. On a walk, a third is still a sensible floor for an edge piece.

With a 6×9 paver laid in rows that run the length of the walk, common widths work out like this.

• 36 inches. Six rows with the 6-inch side across, or four with the 9-inch side across. Full pavers both ways.
• 48 inches. Eight rows of 6 inches. With the 9-inch side across, it’s five rows and a 3-inch strip, right at the one-third line.
• 54 inches. Nine rows of 6 inches or six rows of 9 inches. Full pavers both ways.
• 60 inches. Ten rows of 6 inches. With the 9-inch side across, it’s six rows and a 6-inch strip.

Those are nominal sizes. Actual sizes vary by maker, and the same CMHA spec calls for joints of 1/16 to 3/16 inch, so lay a dry row across the walk and measure it before you set the edges. Herringbone and 45-degree patterns leave a zigzag edge that gets cut at any width, and our paver calculator adds 12 percent for those patterns against 7 percent for straight ones.

Borders Take Width From the Field

A border of a contrasting paver frames the walk, but it comes out of the width. Techo-Bloc suggests keeping the border to a third of the total width or less, and points out that a 6×9 soldier course along a 3-foot walk takes up half of it.

Run the numbers before you pick a border. Two 9-inch soldier courses take 18 inches, so the walk needs to be 54 inches wide to keep them at a third. Two 6-inch borders take 12 inches and fit a 36-inch walk.

Each of these keeps the border at a third of the width or less and leaves a field that takes a 6×9 without a strip.

• A 4-foot walk with a 6-inch border on each side leaves a 36-inch field.
• A 4 1/2-foot walk with a 9-inch soldier course on each side also leaves 36 inches.
• A 5-foot walk with a 6-inch border on each side leaves 48 inches, or eight rows of 6 inches.

Edges and Base Make the Dig Wider

Pavers stay put because something holds the edge. Unilock’s planning guide says edge restraints must always be spiked into the compacted base, so the base has to reach past the pavers.

Unilock’s base guide says the base should extend past the paved edge by the depth of the base. We put 6 inches of base under walks and carry it 6 inches past each edge.

That makes the dig about a foot wider than the walk. A 4-foot walk is a 5-foot trench, and a 5-foot walk is a 6-foot trench. If the walk runs beside a driveway, fence or bed, make sure the extra 6 inches fits on that side. Base depth itself depends on your soil, which we cover in how deep a paver base should be.

Landings at the Door

Where the walk meets the door, the landing sets its own minimum. Residential codes built on the International Residential Code, such as Indiana’s, require a landing at least as wide as the door it serves and at least 36 inches deep in the direction of travel. Your town may use a different edition, so check before you build.

A 36-inch landing leaves little room to stand while a storm door swings out. Our front walkway ideas article treats 5 by 5 feet as comfortable and covers step risers and treads.

What Extra Width Costs

Width adds area, and some costs barely move with it. For a 30-foot walk in central Pennsylvania, our sizes pages for the 3×30, 4×30 and 5×30 show current prices side by side, and our fixed-price front walk packages list the standard sizes.

Each extra foot of width adds 30 square feet, and the price per square foot falls as the walk gets wider. Edge restraint follows the length, 66 feet on the 3-foot walk and 70 on the 5-foot, so the added cost is mostly pavers, stone and digging. Prices elsewhere depend on local labor and stone, but the pattern holds: a wider walk costs more in total and less per square foot.

Before You Mark It Out

Mark the walk on the ground with paint or two garden hoses, and walk it with someone beside you while carrying what you usually carry. Then lay a dry row of your paver across it, adjust the width to whole units, and add the border and the base extension to the layout. If you want it drawn to scale with a material list, our Single Space plans start at $349 and cover one walk, patio or wall in any state.