Parker County is west of Fort Worth along I-20: Weatherford, Aledo, Willow Park and Hudson Oaks, then rolling cross timbers country with a lot of long private drives. This page covers the towns, why the ground here is different from the clay east of Fort Worth, and Weatherford's rules for contractors.
Weatherford, the county seat, Aledo, Willow Park, Hudson Oaks, Annetta, Springtown and the Parker County side of Azle, plus the parts of Fort Worth that reach into the county. Weatherford and the I-20 corridor are well inside our area. For the far west and north of the county, send the address and you will get a straight answer.
Parker County is undulating to hilly, between roughly 700 and 1,200 feet above sea level, and its highest point, Slipdown Mountain, reaches 1,368 feet. Much of it is Cross Timbers country, with sandy loam soils under oak and mesquite, and the Grand Prairie covers the eastern side closer to Fort Worth. The Trinity drains part of the county and the Brazos the rest, and Lake Weatherford sits just east of the county seat.
That makes different trouble for a driveway than the blackland clay south and east of the city. On sandy loam and slopes, the enemy is running water. A drive on a hillside carries storm runoff down its surface and along its edges, and the loose soil beside it washes away until the edge has nothing under it and breaks off. Long drives through the trees also pick up root damage and a lot of shade, and they cross a ditch at the road where the culvert and the apron take a beating. Where a property sits on the Grand Prairie side, the familiar clay cracking comes back.
Shade is the other local factor. A drive that runs under oaks for most of its length stays cooler and damper, a seal coat cures more slowly there, and leaves, acorns and sap sit on the surface. Those drives are blown clean and edged before any sealer goes down, and the shaded stretches are given longer before traffic returns.
Parker County was farm country for most of its history. Watermelons grown here took the world prize for weight at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, and by 1910 the county had close to 144,000 fruit trees, mostly peaches. Interstate 20 changed that. Once it was built through the county, thousands of people moved in and commuted to Fort Worth, and the population went from 33,888 in 1970 to more than 140,000 by 2019.
So the county's asphalt is a mix of long rural drives and ranch entrances laid years ago, and newer subdivisions around Aledo, Willow Park and Hudson Oaks, some with drives too young to seal yet. We will tell you which one you have.
Retail and office lots have followed the same road. The strip of shopping centers, restaurants and offices along I-20 through Hudson Oaks and Willow Park takes heavy daily traffic, and lots that busy are where regular crack filling, sealing and restriping pay for themselves.
A reseal or crack fill on your own drive is not street work. Anything at the road is done under the right permit by a contractor who meets the city's rules, and the fee goes on the quote.
Rebuilding the broken edge and giving it support, and dealing with where the runoff goes so it stops cutting under the asphalt. Sealing on its own will not.
Not in its first six to twelve months. After that, a first coat is worth doing before the sun has grayed it.
Any contractor working inside Weatherford city limits must be registered with the city, and work there is only booked with a contractor who is.
Yes. The asphalt is finished against the cattle guard frame with a clean edge, and the approach is shaped so water drains away from the guard rather than into its pit.
Next door: Tarrant County to the east, Johnson County to the south east and Denton County to the north east.
