With the asphalt dumped and spread over the gravel-filled trench, the roller begins its compression. Here the driver moves south to north, the noon sun behind him, his machine's shadow darker than any asphalt.
Once done, there is a 2"-3" difference between the compressed asphalt and the surface of the road. Another dump of asphalt before the trench and the road are flush.
About three metres to the right was a smaller job, not a trench but a Malevich. Of course it is one thing to fill this square, quite another to cut it into the road, as a previous crew did when they adjusted the water and sewage lines. You will note that only those shadows that appear on the square are darker than those around it.
