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

Another very important part of roads is the dirt underneath it, it has to be properly compacted and graded so the road doesn’t immediately get destroyed. Soil compaction is a slow process, taking multiple passes with up to a few days between them, depending on the type of soil you have. That’s most of the time you see “nothing happening” on road projects.