A bumpy road lies ahead for motorists and public-road managers because sky-high oil prices and leaner budgets are putting the squeeze on asphalt-resurfacing projects.
Asphalt is 5 percent oil and 95 percent sand and rock.
It also means costlier diesel fuel used to deliver materials to and from pavement projects.
The result: fewer paving projects and more roads with less than ideal conditions.
Asphalt-pavement prices per ton have gone up 30 percent in the past year statewide.
The full impact may not come until next summer, when the Colorado Department of Transportation’s resurfacing program faces a double whammy: uncertain oil prices and the slicing of the fiscal year 2008 budget of $160 million to $81 million.
“We’re reducing our resurfacing-program budget by 50 percent and the cost of materials is increasing,” said Stacey Stegman, spokeswoman for CDOT.
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