I tell you about a stupid technique used by construction crews that costs taxpayers and others more money in road repairs and causes more construction obstruction. I've observed this crappy technique being used both for government-paid projects as well as private construction.
Ultimately, it creates a gutter where ice can freeze in the channel and exert pressure which is different from both the cement to either side and the cement below. This speeds up the decay of the pavement through the formation of cracks caused by the uneven pressure.
This is a photo of the walkway a neighbor recently had put in to their front door. The texture and grooves you see in the surface were made by pushing down large molds on top, then a saw was used to cut partway through the cement along those false grooves. This is actually worse than the roads because most of the cracks don't extend all the way across, and none are without turns. Given that a circular saw is miserable at such cuts, that means that the depth is not even uniform, thus there will be pockets where the water will be trapped.
This image gives you a basic idea of the maximum depth of the cuts (~1.5 inches).
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