Indeed, asphalt paving is really just a way to deflect water from the foundation of a road or parking lot. Crack sealing is in no way structural, it is just to delay the eventual replacement of the pavement.

Just this month in our county, they ground the whole surface of a 3 lane county road for 3 miles. Paved it, painted all the lines, etc. The next week, hung a tag on everyone's front door along that road, explaining they were going to "seal the road" as it is the "best use of your tax dollars". OH yes, the tag also cautioned that the "surface might be slippery" for a few days. Then they sprayed the entire surface with some kind of liquid polymer and covered it with sand of some sort. It was kind of pink. Now that the sand has been blown off the side of the road by traffic and a few rains, what is left is a very dirty looking road, the bright white and yellow lane markers are dingy and no longer reflective at night.

The road did need some work, the area has grown a lot and the sides of the road were breaking down from more and more truck traffic. BUT, 40 years ago, this was a tar and chip country road, two cars could pass IF both drivers were as close as possible to the side of the road. It saw more tractor traffic than cars. No way could two trucks pass without one of them being off the road a bit. Over the years they made the road a bit wider each time it was paved. So, now we have a busy 3 lane road on top of the foundation build for a tar and chip country road.

Oh yes, very wise use of our tax dollars. It will be interesting to see how much of our "Infrastructure" here in the USA gets rebuilt PROPERLY with the latest government program.