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

Aside from the different crews argument, the ripping up has multiple phases: the rough cut, the detail work, the patching of trouble spots, etc.

That said, my small town does their projects in a week, and any affected street is only left torn up overnight.