Street Water Valve Burried Under Driveway?

Hi everyone, I noticed that my main water valve (inside my house) is leaking slightly. I want to shut off the main from the city. Called up the city and they said only a licensed plumber could do that. So then I was told by a neighbor that the city recently had marked the valves with blue paint. So I checked the front of my house and saw that the mark was on my asphalt driveway. Is it possible that they actually paved over the water main? that makes no sense to me. Thoughts?

Yes they could have. I had a house where that did happen. The Val;ves and Shutofs were paved over as well as covering a Manhole. This was not done by the city but by a previous homeowner who had a stone driveway and just covered it and paved over it.

Also where I live now, the Blue paint markings indicate that he Valve is approx. 6 feet from the mark. When I went looking, I found it buried under mulch in a Garden bed anbout 6 ft from the Blue spot.

Unless your city has very good diagrams, the point they marked could just be where it SHOULD be, not where it actually is.