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<br />r:.mt ujJgi'CiJ~S yjdJ lliure gasoiine and diesei and iess asphalt Ilei hanel,
<br />impacting supplies and costs of a key pavement ingredient.
<br />
<br />
<br />motorh:ts and
<br />
<br />truckers are reel-
<br />ing from the shock of
<br />skyrocketing gas and
<br />
<br />f
<br />J
<br />
<br />Jjc;sd [uti prices, mh-
<br />ers are deeply concerned over Ole cost
<br />ot a relatco comm(}(llty - asphalt, the
<br />residue of crude oil distillation and the
<br />glue that binds together the road ~ur.
<br />faces that vehicles ride on.
<br />Contractors, public works officials
<br />and others who build and maintain the
<br />nation's highways and streets are Stnlg-
<br />gling with the steepest price rise in mem-
<br />my for this key pavement ingredient.
<br />As an illustration, the price forperfor-
<br />mance-graded PG64-28 asphalt binder
<br />on the East Coast market climbed from
<br />$180 per ton in April 2004 to $422 per
<br />ton in April 2008, according to the As-
<br />phalt Weekly Monitor produced by Po-
<br />ten Partners Inc.
<br />,^.nd this was the price at t....ie termi-
<br />nal. Customers such as hot mix asphalt
<br />(HMA) suppliers must pay additional
<br />costs to have the material delivered to
<br />their facilities, and are forced to charge
<br />more for the mix they supply to pav-
<br />ing contractors and highway officials
<br />for road construction and maintenance
<br />projects.
<br />
<br />Record Asphalt Prices
<br />Across U.S.
<br />Jim Reger, president of PJ. Keat-
<br />ing Company, a Lunenburg, MA-
<br />based construction materials company,
<br />blames the high price of asphalt on the
<br />soaring cost of crude oil and the fact
<br />they have just one supplier in his area.
<br />Keating, a subsidiary of Oldcastle
<br />Inc., operates aggregate quan-ying,
<br />crushing and lIMA facilities in Massa-
<br />chusetts and Rhode Island, as well as a
<br />paving division. In May, the company
<br />was obtaining its asphalt at a barge
<br />
<br />acppubs.com
<br />
<br />tcrm:na! in l'~cwjngtGi1, t~IL paying
<br />roughly $425 per tOil. An additional
<br />deli very cu~i uf $45 per ton brought the
<br />(otallo approximately $470.
<br />This is in iine with costs reported
<br />by John Johnson, liquid asphalt sales
<br />manager for Aggregate Industries'
<br />Northeast U.S. Region's Massachusetts
<br />HMA plants.
<br />Keating's Reger also said he believes
<br />the price of delivered asphalt for his
<br />area could conceivably ratchet up to
<br />between $500 and $600 per ton in the
<br />not-too-distant future.
<br />
<br />pay abolit $,115 l!tl luu udivered for its
<br />nexi I1rajul purchase. This comparf'.~ to
<br />the company's previous delivery pur-
<br />chase price of $365 per ton. With mil.
<br />lions of gallons of emulsion produced
<br />each year at HIt.: company's three Texas
<br />plants, this is a substantial price hike.
<br />On the West Coast, prices at the 1'011-
<br />land, OR, teoninal in late spring for.
<br />Performance-Graded 1'064-22 asphalt
<br />binder were running between $310 and
<br />$320 per ton according to the state's
<br />Department of Transportation. And
<br />in the Southeast, Panama City, FL's
<br />
<br />:1
<br />
<br />
<br />Petroleum refineries are adding cokers to existing plants, producing more gasoline and diesel and
<br />
<br />less asphalt for road construction.
<br />
<br />Elsewhere in the U.S., asphalt prices
<br />are lower but still high historically.
<br />For example, Ergon Asphalt & Emul-
<br />sions Inc., a unit of Jackson, MS-based
<br />Ergon Inc., is seeing record prices for
<br />asphalt supplied to its three emulsion
<br />plants in Texas. According to David
<br />Stroud, Brgon's regional sales man-
<br />ager, the company was expecting to
<br />
<br />NEWS 13, reporling on the mOllnting
<br />cost of gasoline, also infonned viewers
<br />of the related surge of asphalt prices to
<br />$3'15 per ton, almost double that of five
<br />years ago.
<br />
<br />Refineries Making Lass AspImAt
<br />Booming asphalt prices are due to
<br />several factors, chief among them the
<br />
<br />--
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<br />-.l'1l'i'7
<br />
<br />October 2008 NS
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