A garden path that is too narrow is annoying every single day and a path that is too wide is a waste of paving and of garden, and the right width is decided by one question: what has to get along it. Two people walking abreast need about a metre and a quarter; a wheelbarrow needs less width but needs it clear; a lawn mower needs more than either; moving furniture needs more again. This works out the width from the traffic, checks it against the widest thing that has to pass, and draws the result as bodies across the path so you can see whether it is comfortable or merely possible.
Traffic, clearance and paving
A path is sized by what has to pass along it, not by how it looks on a plan.
0.55 m shoulder to shoulder; 0.75 m if carrying anything.
So sleeves do not brush the hedge and a barrow does not clip the wall.
Result
Width is a traffic problem, not a design one
Paths get designed by eye and then lived in for twenty years, and the ones that frustrate are almost always the ones sized by what looked right on a plan. The question to ask is mechanical: what goes along this, how wide is it, and how much clearance does it need on either side. Everything else — the material, the pattern, the edging — is decided afterwards and does not change the width.
A single person with nothing in their hands needs about 0.6 metres and is comfortable at 0.9. Two abreast need 1.1 metres of bodies plus clearance, so about 1.25 metres to walk and talk without brushing. A wheelbarrow is only 0.75 metres wide but it cannot be steered precisely and it swings, so it needs its 0.75 plus clearance at both sides — which is where the edge allowance earns its place.
The widest object usually wins
On most garden paths the traffic figure and the object figure are close, and the object wins. A wheelbarrow needs 0.75 m plus two edge clearances, which is 0.95 m — less than two people, so people set the width. A lawn mower at 0.9 m plus clearance is 1.1 m, which is close. A wheelie bin or a piece of furniture at 1.2 m plus clearance is 1.4 m, and that beats two people, so the object sets the width and the path is wider than the traffic needs.
This is the argument for thinking about the bin before the path is built. A path that is perfect for walking and ten centimetres too narrow for the bin is a path that will be walked around, with the bin going across the lawn, for as long as the house stands.
When to go wider than the calculation
There are three good reasons to oversize. The first is passing: if two people might need to pass each other, or one person pass a barrow, the path needs the sum, not the maximum — around two metres. The second is a bend, where the effective width narrows because a wheeled object cuts the corner and anything long swings wide; add a quarter at a right-angle bend. The third is a gate at either end, which is almost always narrower than the path and therefore sets the real limit.
The counter-argument is cost and garden. Paving is expensive per square metre and it is permanent, and a path that is too wide in a small garden eats the planting and makes the space feel like a car park. A twelve-metre path at 1.25 m is fifteen square metres; at 2 m it is twenty-four. That is nine square metres of garden and about four hundred dollars, for the ability to pass a wheelbarrow.
A path wider than the gate at either end is two different widths joined by a squeeze. Size the gate with the path, not after it.
A gate also needs a level landing on both sides — somewhere to stand while opening it. A 1 m square of paving at each side is the difference between a gate you use and a gate you prop open.
| Location | Width | Why | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side access to a bin store | 1.2 m | Bin plus clearance | Level, and no steps |
| Front path to the door | 1.2 to 1.5 m | Two people, sometimes with bags | Widen at the door |
| Main garden path | 1.2 m | Comfortable for two | 1.8 m if barrows pass |
| Secondary path between beds | 0.6 to 0.9 m | One person, one barrow | Stepping stones can be less |
| Path to a shed or greenhouse | 1.0 m | Barrow and mower | Firm edge for a loaded barrow |
| Entertaining terrace | 2.4 m+ | Furniture and people | This is a room, not a path |
A worked example
- PeopleTwo at 0.55 m with 0.15 m between them is 1.25 m.
- ObjectA loaded wheelbarrow at 0.75 m plus 0.1 m clearance at both edges is 0.95 m.
- Take the widerThe path is 1.25 m — the people set it, not the barrow.
- Area and costOver twelve metres that is 15 m², which at $45 a square metre is $675 of paving.
- Sanity checkTwo people abreast fit exactly, with nothing to spare. If anyone will carry anything, go to 1.5 m.
That last line is the one worth acting on. The calculation returns the width that works for the case you described, and the case you described is the average one. Paths are used in their worst case — carrying, passing, in the dark, in the rain — and the usual advice is to take the calculated figure and add a little.
Building it
A path is a base with a surface on it, and the base is where the money should go. A 100 mm compacted sub-base under 50 mm of sand or grit, with the units laid on top and the joints brushed with kiln-dried sand, will outlast a thinner base with better paving by years. The most common failure is not a cracked slab, it is a slab that rocks because the ground under it moved.
Fall is the other thing. A path needs to shed water — about 1 in 60 across its width, or along its length if it runs down a slope — and it needs somewhere for the water to go. A path that falls onto a border is fine; a path that falls against a wall is a damp problem waiting to happen.
The paving quantity itself is a straightforward area calculation once the width is fixed, and the patio paver figure takes it from there, including the joint width and the sub-base volume. If the path is being laid around beds, the garden area figure gives you what is left to plant.
Do
- Size from the traffic and the widest object, not from a plan drawing.
- Add width at bends and where two things might need to pass.
- Check the gate width at either end before fixing the path width.
- Spend on the sub-base rather than on a thicker slab.
- Give it a fall, and somewhere for the water to go.
Avoid
- Designing the width by eye and discovering the bin does not fit.
- Forgetting that edging eats into the clear width.
- Making a path wider than the gate that serves it.
- Laying on a thin base and watching it rock within a year.
- Laying it level and letting water sit against the house.
Where the numbers stop being true
Shoulder width is a population average and it varies, and it is much larger when someone is carrying something, pushing a buggy, or using a walking aid. If any of those apply, use 0.75 or 0.9 metres per person rather than 0.55 and the answer changes substantially.
The edge clearance is treated as a fixed strip on both sides. Against a soft planting border the effective clearance is larger than the physical one, because a sleeve brushing a shrub is not a problem; against a wall, a fence or a line of terracotta pots it is smaller, because nobody wants to brush any of them.
Bends are not modelled. A right-angle bend in a path effectively narrows it for anything wheeled or long, and the usual treatment is to square the corner off with a larger unit or to add a quarter to the width through the turn. And none of this accounts for the path being used as a working surface during the build — which is how most garden paths get their first cracks.
How the figures are produced
The traffic width is the number of people times shoulder width, plus the clearance between them, which is one fewer gap than there are people. The object width is the object plus twice the edge clearance. The path is whichever of those is wider. Paving area is width times length, and cost is area times the rate you entered. The bodies across the path in the diagram are shoulder widths, so a partial block at the end is the spare room.
Questions people ask
How wide should a garden path be?
1.2 metres for a main path used by two people, 0.9 for a secondary one, and 1.2 to 1.4 where a wheelbarrow or a bin has to go. More if two things need to pass.
Can two people walk side by side on a 1 m path?
Technically yes, at 1.1 m of bodies, but with no clearance at all. 1.25 m is the figure for comfortable, and 1.5 m is better if either of you is carrying anything.
Does the edging count in the width?
No — the widths here are clear widths between edgings. Add 200 mm if you want the overall dimension including a 100 mm edging on each side.
What about a path for a wheelbarrow only?
About a metre: 0.75 m of barrow plus edge clearance. Make it firm-edged, because a loaded barrow punches through a soft edge.
Should the path be wider than the gate?
Never. The narrower of the two governs. Size the gate and the path together, and allow a level landing on both sides of the gate.
How much fall does a path need?
About 1 in 60 — roughly 20 mm over 1.2 m — either across the width or along the length, with somewhere for the water to go that is not the house wall.