Paving season blackout

Definition

The dated window a state closes to wearing-course paving, whatever the weather does.

Why It Matters

Washington's standard specification bars placing hot mix asphalt for a wearing course on the traveled way from the first of October to the thirty-first of March, unless the engineer agrees in writing. Underneath that sits a surface temperature table running from thirty-five to fifty-five degrees by lift and course. So there are two limits and only one of them is about the weather on the day. A contractor whose work is public will have a structurally dead half-year on that revenue line, and a private book will still lose the shoulder days the table takes. Ask what share of the last three years came from state work, and read the winter months.