High gas, oil prices affecting street maintenance in Ocean County

High oil and gas prices seem to be affecting all areas of business in New Jersey and street paving is not excluded. Because asphalt is a mixture of stone, sand and oil, the price has gone up about $10 per ton. Ocean County uses about 100,000 tons of asphalt and as the prices keep going up, less work gets done. Upwards of a dozen roads most likely won't get paved this year. Since Ocean County has 620 miles of county roads that need to be maintained, they may have to make hard choices as to where the money goes this summer.