M1 Tank Ground Pressure

The oil binds the fine aggregate and the larger aggregate. The compaction of bituminous (asphalt) and the base under it is what makes strong.
It all depends on how the engineer designed it.
Highways, city streets and rural roads can be designed different due to the traffic volume and the heaviness of what's driven on them. That's why interstate highways are mostly concrete.
I'm hoping they did their homework on how it was design before this was done or they could be doing some repair work.