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?
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Not to say it’s a perfect process, but in the example you gave I can shed some insight as to how it works for the company I work for.
We have hundreds of dump trucks, pavers, skid steers, asphalt plants, gravel pits, etc. but we contract out for things like our street sweeping, and asphalt milling. Why? That’s above my pay grade, but I’m sure there is a good reason.
When we start a road, we don’t leave it ripped up for weeks on end, but when the mill is there they run as hard and fast as they can as they get paid by my company per ton of asphalt that gets milled up. They will work 14-16 hour days, and can often work faster than the asphalt can get brought in. Sometimes a “mill and fill” is done where the paving crews are working 500-1000 feet behind the mills, but those tie up a vast number of trucks and make it very difficult for any other projects in the area to be completed.
If we have 15-20 trucks to put on a job it makes much more sense for those trucks to haul millings the first few days of the project, then haul fresh asphalt the next few days while the milling crew moves to another job, possibly working for a different contractor.
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