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NewsOctober 3, 2000

Cape Girardeau County aims to get the most asphalt for its dollar. As a petroleum product, the price of asphalt has risen in recent months. This increase prompted the Cape Girardeau County Commission on Monday to finalize a contract to purchase 10,000 tons less of asphalt mix this year than in last year's contract...

Cape Girardeau County aims to get the most asphalt for its dollar.

As a petroleum product, the price of asphalt has risen in recent months. This increase prompted the Cape Girardeau County Commission on Monday to finalize a contract to purchase 10,000 tons less of asphalt mix this year than in last year's contract.

The county plans to purchase 17,000 tons of asphalt from Apex Paving Co. Inc. of Sikeston at a rate of $29.90 per ton, for road projects scheduled from now until August 2001. That totals $508,300, reported Cape Girardeau County Highway Administrator Scott Bechtold.

"The price this year per ton has gone up, which is not a surprise, considering the increase in crude oil prices," said Bechtold.

The County's 1999-00 purchase was 27,000 tons at $26.45 per ton.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission had few options for this year's asphalt mix supplier. Apex was the only contractor to submit a bid.

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"We (didn't) have many choices," reported presiding commissioner Gerald Jones.

Bechtold theorized the reason why only one bid was received was that the volume of this year's purchase was too much for small contractors, yet too light to attract the interest of big firms from St. Louis or Arkansas.

Plans for 9,500 tons of this year's asphalt include blacktopping county roads 436-434, County Road 607 near Fruitland, and nearly two miles of county roads 238-241 between Allenville and Dutchtown -- all of which are now gravel.

Plans for the other 7,500 tons of this year's order include overlaying the existing old pavement at county roads 468-463 west of Jackson, and County Road 301 north of Jackson.

County workers will prepare the roadways, cutting and leveling the terrain, and then Apex will deliver the mix at 350-degrees Fahrenheit.

Bechtold said that all county highway department schedules are flexible, and that the county commission may purchase a larger batch of asphalt in late spring 2001.

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