Filling up our gas tanks is not the only way that rising oil prices are hurting our pocketbooks. Rising oil prices are linked directly with asphalt prices, a material used in numerous city projects.

With asphalt prices skyrocketing, working on major projects, such as constructing roads, is becoming an ongoing struggle in the city of Hope.

“Asphalt prices are more volatile than gasoline prices, and contractors are reluctant to contract out a job for a long period of time.” said City Manager Catherine Cook.

“Asphalt prices are tied directly to oil prices,” said Robert Plant, of the R.D. Plant Company in Murfreesboro.“Asphalt is made from oil.” Prices have nearly doubled over the past few years, said Plant.

Last year asphalt prices were $6,880 per ton of asphalt, and the previous year they had been $5,170 per ton, according to Cook. Asphalt prices for this year are not yet known, but will probably be even higher than previous years. The R.D. Plant Company, the asphalt company the city has used in past years, recently shut down due to lack of work, said Plant.

R.D. Plant has always given the city the lowest bid on asphalt, said Cook. This is the first year that R.D. Plant has been out of business in a long time.
 
With unstable asphalt prices, many city projects, such as the Greenwood Street Project in Hope are being affected. The city has $1.25 million to spend on phase two of the Greenwood Street project.

They are working with the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department to design phase two the project which will be bid out in two to three months, and should take approximately eight or nine months to complete. With rising asphalt prices, the city is looking for ways to stretch their budget in order to complete as much of the project as possible.

“We are hoping to get at least three or four blocks of the street finished,” said Cook, “If the money is not available we will cut down the section.”

The goal is to get as much of the street from Lincoln to Hazel streets finished, said Cook.

The price of asphalt for completing phase two of Greenwood Street is not yet known, but suppliers have informed city officials they are expected to be even higher than last year.

Contractors are unwilling to bid out a job that will take several months because they take the risk of asphalt prices skyrocketing during the middle to the project, Cook said. Many contractors are trying to build in the price of rising asphalt prices, causing their bids to be very expensive, she said.

Until relief is seen in oil prices, asphalt prices will continue to rise in an unsteady and unpredictable fashion according to Plant.