Q: Could you please tell me what is going on with my oak tree? The roots are next to a driveway. It’s very interesting looking into all the little cubby holes. Is this normal?

A: This looks completely normal to me.

To my eyes, the driveway was installed after the oak tree was planted and much root growth was directed along the length of the hard surface. There  looks to be minor damage from cars on nearby roots.

It also looks like there has been erosion over the roots of the tree, gradually washing soil from atop the roots.

This is not necessarily a bad thing but to avoid a trip hazard I’d put pine chip mulch over the roots that go into the play area but no closer than 2 feet from the trunk.