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ASPHALT PRICES THROUGH THE ROOF
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 -- 12:56 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
It's getting more and more expensive to pave roads.
Asphalt concrete is petroleum-based. Obviously, the price-per-barrel plays a big part in the cost per ton.
Clark County Highway Commissioner Randy Anderson says his office oversees around 300 miles of county trunk highway. When they bought asphalt last year, they paid around $34 per ton.
"We were quoted $55.16 a ton down in Jackson County and over in Eau Claire County (we were quoted) $66.10 a ton," Anderson says.
Anderson hopes asphalt comes down a bit before they have to make their big purchase of 16,000 tons next year. But, even a $5 increase would lead to an $80,000 overall increase in materials.
When Anderson started in 1990, the county paved around 20 miles of road each year; they now can only muster nine. That means each road used to get paved every 15 years; they now would only get paved every 30.
That could eventually lead to unsafe roads.
"After awhile, absolutely. We're definitely not at that point in Clark County," Anderson explains, "If you have enough deterioration, you have enough section loss, you have enough wheel rutting, it absolutely becomes an unsafe condition."
Anderson's getting ready to take his proposed budget to the Finance Committee. He's requesting a slight increase in his levy. He says it would be the first increase in 8 years.
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