High asphalt costs haven’t hit Yuma – yet

…Larry Brown of Abacus Project Management Inc. assists contractors with bid estimates and is helping with building construction and parking lot expansion at Arizona Western College in Yuma. Brown said rising costs have hit California worse than Arizona but that they are bound to make a local impact soon.

“It’s really a man-made shortage,” Brown said. “Refiners came up with better techniques for crude oil, which is used in the making of ‘hot mix,’ used to make asphalt paving … but now it’s also used for diesel fuel.”


He said that he is not aware of any slowing in construction projects locally.

Brown said that because new technology can mean more uses for a material, demand increases and that raises prices. And he said highway projects are impacted more than buildings because more raw materials are required. He also said concrete shortages are affected by world markets, especially the current building boom in India and China.

Yuma Sun