I have heard the reasoning behind it, and in no way am I defending the Gov in one way or the other but this is the logic as it was explained to me.
A road in fair condition can be overlayed with 1" to 1.5" of top course it is a finer asphalt that help seal the existing asphalt. They simply tack coat the existing asphalt and lay it down and this drastically extends the life of the road, for pretty cheap money.
Roads that are in very poor condition can not simply be overlayed it would be a waste of money. To properly repair the road the asphalt will need to reclaimed and regraded, and binder asphalt will need to be layed down 2"-3" and then the top course 1"-1.5", and more than likely the root problem with the road is the drainage, so they need to spend money, redesigning, and approving a new drainage system, and install it.
So you can see how one is cheap money in preventative maintenance and one is expensive repair/rebuild work.
And asphalt is crazy expensive the last few years, right now it is $645 a liquid ton and that translates to very expensive per ton in place price.
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