I'm the oddball of the group. I took out concrete and put in asphalt.
BUT.....before everyone starts flaming me....we had a turnaround drive in front of out house directly across from an intersection. So out turnaround drive was convenient for people to use. It may sound odd, but I don't really care if someone pulls in, then backs out to change directions, but to use the complete drive is like an invasion of property to me.
Then the drive was not what I would say wide enough, so they were running into the lawn, or running into the flowerbed, or both. Plus the fact, I had just put in a new sidewalk around the house, and from the house down to the drive. Some jackwad ran over it and cracked the new sidewalk about a week after it was poured.
NOW....the main reason that we went from perfectly good concrete to asphalt.....in the winter, the sun does not hit the front of the house very much. And the fact that when our road was redone, it made the road higher than the driveway. If we would get days in the winter that the snow would possibly melt some, it would refreeze, and we would end up with ice, both at the garage door,plus at the road. Our mailbox is across the road, so we would have to walk on ice. One year the ice was over 3" thick for most of the winter.
To my garage, I have asphalt. The house drive now, is a backout and turn around or park area and is now asphalt. In the winter, as long as the sun comes out, it can be as cold as 10-15 degrees and the snow will start melting off of the asphalt, while the gravel drives, and concrete drives around are still froze and iced up.
But that is Ohio. In the dead *** of summer, a trailer sitting for a prolonged period will leave dents. Any gas spills, oil spills can possibly soften the asphalt unless coated real well, but will still stain things. One advantage, it can be coated with a sealer and made to look like new.
Heavy trucks,concrete trucks, dump trucks, large propane trucks, are not recommended. And if they drive off of the edge, it can bust the asphalt. You can't use a floor jack on it in summer, and even in cool weather for that matter as it will leave dents. Absolutely no jackstands unless you have a good thick support board under them. Asphalt is HOT. If you have asphalt near a porch or someplace where you sit in the summer, you will notice a difference in temperature vs. concrete in the same area.
If you are a person who does a lot of work on a vehicle in a driveway, you need a concrete pad for a stable work area.
Concrete, when done correctly will outlast asphalt by years if not decades.
Cost.....Concrete will cost you 4-5 times the amount over asphalt, and depending on location, could easily double that to 8-10 times the amount over the cost of asphalt.
Edging....if you start out with a nice straight edge on your asphalt, after a few years you will lose that straight edge. The reason being is that asphalt is tapered down on the edges, and grass and weeds are some tough stuff. It will slowly break the edge down little by little over the years. Not much, but enough that you do not have a nice crisp line. And a lot of people likes that nice crisp line. With concrete, you have full thickness all the way through the edges, and if you use an edger periodically, you will always have that crisp edge.
So location plays a very huge part in the difference between the two. Hot weather plays a huge difference in whether you want to work on it or concrete when it is full sun, 95 degrees out. Cost also is a very huge factor in determining your choice.
And there are other alternatives to both asphalt or concrete. You can get gravel, you can get tar and chipped which is a cross between asphalt and gravel, you can get pavers, you can get the concrete or plastic grids to drive on and have grass planted but the grids prevent grass damage.
There are a lot of options, and what may suit one person, may not suit the next person. Or it may not even suit the neighborhood. If you are living in a $500,000 fancy brick home in an upscale neighborhood, asphalt may look out of place, and gravel would really make it look like **** altogether.
So look around, see what others have in your area, look at your property, and decide what would suit it best to be both functional, but to also add to the aesthetics of the property. Curb appeal goes a long, long, way when others drive by, or if you are potentially going to sell it later.
And like ape said, the sun took care of snow removal for all practical purposes. You are pretty close to me so the weather is about the same.