For the first time ever, a midmonth price adjustment was made for Maryland’s asphalt cement index, forcing state contractors to make adjustments on resurfacing projects.

Since last July, the price of asphalt has more than doubled, from $328.33 per ton to about $730, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration.

“We’ll need to repave 35 miles of roadway” this year to reach our goal, said Jim Irvin, Howard County director of public works. “We’re going to be lucky if we get around 20 miles this year.”

Asphalt is comprised of 95 percent stone, sand and gravel, with 5 percent of the mix derived from crude oil, according to a spokeswoman for the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

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“Operating costs have gone up dramatically,” said Rob Scrivener, general manager of Reliable Contracting Co. Inc., which runs three asphalt manufacturing plants in Anne Arundel County. To pay for the changes, his company has to change prices monthly to accommodate the asphalt index.

Maryland sets a market price for asphalt when it’s sending out contracts for construction companies to bid on, said Howard Shieh, project manager for the Howard County resurfacing program. If the price of asphalt fluctuates more than 5 percent, the state will adjust the price it plans to pay for the road work through the resurfacing budget.

“The hike in prices makes it difficult [to do business] because when you sign a contract, it may be as many as two years before you end up doing all the paving,” said Jeff Turfle, project manager at Bosley Construction. “That never used to be a big issue when the price was steady.” Turfle also noted that the volume of work has dropped substantially from last year and the year before.

To pay for these changes, the company decided not to bid on contracts that do not include price adjustments for raw material price increases.

“A little driveway up to your house used to cost a couple thousand dollars,” Turfle said. “People are probably going to start looking at other options now,” he said.

ekrupp@baltimoreexaminer.com