When cities repave roads, why do they leave the street ripped up for a couple weeks before repaving?

Question

I was told once it’s because cities project the job to take say 5 weeks, so they rip it up the first week, leave it for 3 weeks, then repave the last week. And they do this so everyone gets a paycheck for the full 5 weeks. Surely there has to be a different reason?

In: Other

Answer 1

They often do other work on the infrastructure once the paving is up…. putting in new storm drains, running wiring underground, replacing curbs and sidewalks (which comes before repaving). I metal detect for a hobby and torn up streets are one of the favorite places for it, so we get to see the work being done. They are most certainly **not** just sitting on their asses because the city scheduled more time than the job needed.