When asphalt is produced, it is easily moldable.This allows the asphalt paver to lay-down asphalt in a continuous fast-paced process, keeping the initial costs low. The use of recycled asphalt pavement in asphalt mixtures also keeps the price down. Additionally, there are many different types of pavement maintenance that can extend the life of your asphalt at a reasonable price.

Asphalt roads can be paved just a lane at a time, minimizing disruption to citizens and reducing congestion through speedy construction processes, saving taxpayers thousands of dollars in user costs. Projects can often be completed in one short day, even overnight, leaving routes open for travelers and providing street access for stores and businesses.

New asphalt needs time to cool before you allow traffic on it, which is known as “asphalt curing time.” Unlike concrete which “cures” in the first few days of installation, new asphalt can be driven on as soon as it’s rolled and cool. Too many variables exist to give an exact amount of time your parking lot or road will be closed. However, if there is any practical way to keep your new asphalt from being driven on the day it’s laid, it’s best to wait until the next morning.

Asphalt driveways are more weather resistant than concrete driveways, contracting and expanding along with the temperature. This helps these surfaces avoid cracking and other damages. Asphalt driveways are also able to conform to changes in the soil. Concrete, meanwhile, is much more rigid and likely to crack as a result of changes to the soil or foundation.

A concrete driveway can take as much as twice as long to pave as an asphalt driveway of the same size and dimensions. The cost of the material is lower, so generally, repairs are much quicker.