Why must they pave at SIX AM?!

As I’ve mentioned before , there is construction going on. They’re finally paving it. Yay! Soon, I hope, this means I won’t have to listen to it all day.

And yet… it seems that for some magical mystical reason beyond my pitiful little mind, paving must – MUST! – begin at 6:00am. Which, of course, means that the paving guys are all pulling up in their noisy trucks, slamming doors, cracking jokes, getting shovels ready, and so on… at 5:00am.

Sweet merciful Dope, pray tell me: why must they start so early? Give me one valid reason that I can pin my frustrations on, so I don’t go on a murderous rampage next time my sleep is interrupted.

Thank you.

Because if they started at noon, it’d be too hot for the bituminous asphalt to cure properly.

Would *you * want to be working with scalding hot asphalt in the hot summer afternoon sun?

Both of the reasons that I know have already been given. In the winter, it can get too cold to pave, too.

Because the gods of modern transportation require sacrifice! No blood has yet been spilled, so your sleep must be interrupted.

Quit being reasonable, dammit! I’m going with Bobtheoptimist’s theory; it’s the only one that makes sense.

Also, the municipality that the contractor is working for mandates what hours they are to be on the job. 6 AM is pretty standard, at least in SoCal. In fact, most of the time, it’s right there in the contract.
As for asphalt, that’s right, too.
Faruiza, Subcontractor to the stars.
Ok, not really the stars, but if they have their streets paved, we adjust their manholes.

Thank you, so often people disregard obvious answers like this for frivolousness. Notice one person said “scalding hot asphalt” and another said “it’s too hot for asphalt”? HA! :wink:

I was a site-safety officer on an off-ramp construction project (radium processing in the area 70 or so years earlier) and it quickly became apparent to me that people that work on roads are in fact members of a sun-cult. Work began at sunup, regardless of what time the sun rose. There they were, every morning, waiting for their god to bless their efforts (also waiting for the burrito guy) - toiling away for hours during the heat of the day, staying on site to drink until the sun set, then one by one they’d slip away, only to return the next morning to repeat their strange rituals.

Because inconveniencing and annoying people is actually included in the construction plans. If they fail to do this then they aren’t doing their job right. They take pride in their work.

You are right! They should do it at NIGHT so that the blacktop can cure properly. Don’t mind the flood lights at 2am. They should be wrapped up with all the noise by 5am that way.

The OP is in Spokane. It doesn’t get that hot there.

IIRC, the design mix is pretty sensitive to temperature. Even if it doesn’t get “that hot”, the design mix will achieve optimum strength when cured at the temperature the design intended. A mix that cures at a cooler temperature will produce a longer lasting product.

I know a lot less about bituminous mixes than I do about concrete, though, so I may be off the mark.

That being said, I think Bobo’s right. The OP should sacrifice a goat.

I think Wile E is right, it would disrupt the natural order of the universe if no one was bugged.

I’d like to know why the city I work in started to pave a road (they got at far as that bumpy, uneven undercoat) in October, and have left it that way since. Complete with oddly shaped hollows in the middle where they shied away from paving over the yellow lines :frowning:

Still abed by 6???

[John Wayne]You’re burning daylight, pilgrim. [/John Wayne]

  1. It lessens traffic disruption if they can work longer days and get the job done in less time.

  2. Asphalt is hot and those guys often don’t work during the hottest portion of the day.

  3. Yes, I believe they should work at night, but then the night sleepers would be bitching about it.

  4. If they can get done in less than the contracted for period of time, there are usually bonuses involved. I’d go to work early, too if it meant a little more cash in my pocket.