UDOT feels pinch in rising costs of asphalt

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – It’s not only expensive to drive your car these days but what you are driving on is getting costly too.

The Utah Department of Transportation is experiencing an asphalt shortage. Several of UDOT’s road construction projects have already experienced delays. It is because asphalt is now in competition with gasoline. The material that makes asphalt used to be considered waste left over from refining oil into gas but now the greater demand for gasoline is causing refineries to more efficiently squeeze every possible drop of crude oil into the more profitable fuel.


It means there is not a lot of asphalt to go around. To make matters worse the polymer that binds asphalt together is in short supply because it too is a petroleum byproduct, thus, driving the cost up.

ABC4