I feel like I'm going to be the lone voice in this thread.
Around Worcestershire they seem to have got the top dressing down to a fine art. It's spread and swept often within 24 hours and then swept again a day or two later. It's as good to ride on as the old surface within no time.
They have just done one of the Worcester roads up the Malvern hills and it is perfect to ride up or down, at the top of the road you drop down into Hereford, which hasn't been done (it literally stops on the border) and you are confronted by pot holes, cracks, broken surfaces etc. I know which I prefer.
A road race course was done 3 weeks before the event and the organiser got in contact with Worcester council who were more than helpful. They swept it twice but it still had the odd slippery patch, another phone call and they were out again. The race went off without incident.
I do hear a lot of cyclist complaining about surface dressing, but have yet to hear of an alternative (affordable) solution. Apparently top dressing adds decades of life to the road, while also cutting the risks of skidding.