Question
Hello, I sure hope you can give me some guidance.  I've been in my house for about 6 months, and there was never a sidewalk from the road to the front door.  I was going to use a block that's about 6" x 8".  

The problem is, the yard slopes down to the street.  Over 40 feet it drops about a 10 inches.  I don't really recall ever seeing a sidewalk slope that much, so I'm wondering how this will look once complete.  I could put in a step, but I was trying to avoid that since I live in the north east and I need to get the snow blower on the sidewalk (I really hate shoveling).

Any guidance/suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
A slope of 10" in 40 feet is right at 2%. That is what we in the Landscape Industry call FLAT.
I don't think there is any problem at all with a 10 inch drop over 40 feet. In exterior landscape you typically require 2-3% for good drainage anything less is reserved only for soccer and sport fields and must be expertly fine graded. You should have no problem with this. As long as your yard has no crown (raised center) you can just pull a string from one point to the other to set your slope nice and straight. Good Luck

Sean J Murphy, LA

SEI, Inc.
www.southeasternengineering.com
Southeastern Engineering, Inc.

www.amenityarchitects.com
Amenity Architects, LLC.