But officials reportedly documented defects in the waterproofing layer itself:

Sounds like a paving job in Michigan. Michigan law requires paving contractors to guarantee their work, for some period of time. For years, the story was the city or county would notice a new paving job breaking up, but the city or county could not make the warranty claim. They had to send the complaint to MDOT. The charge, for years, was that MDOT would slow walk the process. Eventually, sending their inspector to inspect the road. Then start the paperwork. By the time the warranty claim finally made it to the contractor, son of a gun, the warranty had run out, and the lousy pavement was the taxpayer's problem. A few years ago, it made the "news", when MDOT actually made the contractor tear up new concrete, and repave a section of freeway. Telegraph road, around 12 Mile and 13 Mile roads, was taken down to dirt, and completely rebuilt, around 2000 or 2001. Within six months, I saw that concrete breaking up.

Here's a bit from the net sifter.

Michigan’s history of inconsistent road warranty enforcement stems from bureaucratic hurdles within the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) rather than an explicit lack of legal requirements. While state law legally mandated pavement warranties in the 1990s, systemic oversight failures historically caused many repairs to slip through the cracks

1997 Legislative Mandate: The Michigan Legislature passed Act 79, directing MDOT to secure full replacement warranties of at least five years on state trunkline projects

2015 Audit Report: State auditors heavily criticized MDOT’s enforcement. The Office of the Auditor General found MDOT inconsistently tracked corrective actions, missed warranty expiration deadlines, and failed to notify contractors of defects in a timely manner.

Bottom line: bend over. The "JCs" want more.

Steve