Posted on 06/17/2006 12:54:31 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) MILWAUKEE -- Skyrocketing asphalt prices this spring are causing governments around Wisconsin to scramble to cover the cost of planned road building by using a lower grade of material, recycling some of it or considering a work cutback.
Homeowners and businesses are also debating whether to go ahead with plans for new driveways or parking lots at a higher price or risk it spiraling even further upward.
John Poblocki, owner of Poblocki Paving Corp. in West Allis, has been in the business for 38 years and says he's never seen anything like the recent increase in the price of asphalt.
"The price has been fairly steady for about 15 years," he said. "Some years it went up 2 or 3 percent, and some years not at all. But this spring it has gone up about 30 percent."
Poblocki and others said the primary reason for the boost was because the liquid component used in asphalt is derived from crude oil, which has been priced high at about $70 a barrel.
Wisconsin Department of Transportation spokeswoman Peg Schmitt said she was not aware of any cutback by the state on any road paving plans this year because of more expensive asphalt.
Some multiyear projects had asphalt prices locked in, which helped the agency keep road-building costs down, said Steve Krebs, the DOT's chief proposal management engineer for highway construction.
Counties are taking a variety of approaches to the price increase.
--Waukesha County public works director Richard Bolte said his department had budgeted $2 million for asphalt this year, but bids came back at $3 million. The county is using a lower grade of asphalt in areas that have a lower volume of traffic and fewer trucks, Bolte said.
--In Mequon, in Ozaukee County, city public works director Jon Garms said they're recycling old asphalt and using it along with new asphalt on some projects.
--La Crosse County got prices set on a couple of smaller road projects in March before the asphalt costs zoomed, said Keith Back, the county's assistant highway commissioner. But the county has been told to expect increases for the product on later projects and officials will have to decide whether to request additional money or cut back on road work.
--Dane County has been able to divert funds from other projects that came in under budget to cover the increased asphalt costs, said Jim Matzinger, administrative manager for that county's Department of Public Workers highway and transportation section.
Poblocki said his business has not slowed down despite the high prices.
"People fear more price increases. It prompts them to sign contracts. People want to get a price locked in right now," he said, adding that the cost of a typical residential driveway is up about $300 from a year ago.
But Mike Bringe, owner of Quality Asphalt in Green Bay, said some of his potential customers for private jobs have decided against having asphalt work done.
"They just can't afford it," he said.
John Pandl, owner of Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn, doesn't want his customers looking out on a parking lot paved years ago. So he said he is going ahead with the paving project this spring despite the increased cost.
"I'm just a little guy. I do believe in the free market system. But what the oil companies have done, I think it's a little excessive," he said.
Erin Roth, executive director of the Wisconsin Petroleum Council which represents oil companies in Wisconsin, said one reason asphalt's prices increased is that many producers didn't purchase the petroleum component for their product during the winter because prices were high. But those prices have remained elevated this spring, he said.
In the meantime, he said, refiners are trying to make as much gasoline and diesel fuel as they can because of increased demand for those products during the summer and they don't have the capacity to produce more asphalt mix.
Patrick Goss, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Asphalt Pavement Association, said the price jump is part of an increase in costs for all construction materials, which is partly due to international demand.
He said he hasn't heard from his more than 100 members that they've had any decrease in demand because of the price spike. But he said they've had to increase prices because they've had to pay more for liquid asphalt from suppliers.
"The market is going to dictate what the market is going to dictate and that's what my member have to pay," he said.
Women and children hit hardest...
And did I mention I voted for Kerry in 2004?
Another of Bush's Faults- As-fault.
Blue state blues?
BUMP
Going to a lower grade of asphalt is exactly the wrong thing to do. Push the problem forward; typical bureaucratic mentality.
Just pave less, but count on the normal 20 year life, instead of ??
Most of Wisconsin is fairly conservative. There are hard-working people in WI just as there are some in NY state and California. Blue state, red state, it's really irrelevant.
Here's a quote from a story in the Energy Bulletin from last March:
The best crude oil for making liquid asphalt comes from Venezuela. But oil exports to the United States have been cut because of increasingly tense ties between the two countries
It's ironic that Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, is entertaining Venezuela's propaganda request to provide heating oil and eye surgery from Cuban doctors (watch out for that surgery failure rate! Those communist doctors used to be janitors!) Barrett is an embarrassment to Wisconsin. He was a congressman during Clinton's impeachment and he was a highly visible proponent of censure.
Can't they pave with cement?
"Can't they pave with cement?"
Nope. We use it all up making canoes, LOL! I say flood the roads and issue everyone a cement canoe. ;)
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