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

I read something the other day. I can’t remember the specifics. Substrate can only compact a certain amount of time in certain increments. I’m not sure if that’s the reason for letting it sit. It is one reason for the time it takes from start to finish.