Good driveway gone bad - Does cutting asphalt weaken it?

[mmcnally]

Hi All,

I have a question on the integrity of a driveway once it is cut.

I purchased a house last year and it had a shared driveway just put in that was about 18 feet wide. The builder was then told by the town that he had to cut one foot out of the driveway, right down the center, the entire length (400 feet) as they did not have permission (didn't apply for a special permit) for the shared driveway. This was to make a single shared driveway into 2 seperate driveways. The problem I had was the driveway started cracking where the cuts were made. My neighbor and I paid a company to come in and pave an entire layer over the driveway to fix it. Now the builder wants the money we held from him for this and I am looking for some fact stating he ruined a good driveway by cutting it up.

Thanks!
-Mike

[Tony McC]

So: have I got this correct? The builder cut out a 1 foot wide strip down the entire length of the driveway and did not protect the sawn edge. Subsequently, that edge crumbled away.

Is that right?