Asphalt shortage could shut down work zones

[phantom power]

AURORA | A nationwide shortage in asphalt supplies will have an immediate effect on the city's paving operations and, depending on deficiency of materials, could impact the condition of local streets into 2009.

According to the city's public works department, the asphalt normally used to pave high-frequency streets in the city is currently unavailable due to a industrywide shortage in a specific type of polymer. The lack of the necessary stocks required to produce the polymers, the closing of polymer facilities in Europe and the growing demand for polymers in India and China have all contributed to the shortage.

http://www.aurorasentinel.com/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=8&ArticleID=19760

[NCarolinawoman]

1. In my area of NC, they are paving over everything.

If it's not roads, it's acres of parking lots. Loss of green space is a big environmental problem in central North Carolina.

Maybe this shortage, heh, might end up offering something positive?