Volatile oil prices have asphalt costs skyrocketing and Burleigh County commissioners reconsidering the paving of 149th Avenue.

Residents living along 149th between U.S. Highway 83 and 34 Street NW, pushed hard to have the road paved, citing safety as a major concern. Through their lobbying efforts, the project was pushed to the top of the county's priority list.

At Monday's commission meeting, county engineer Jon Mill provided an update on the project. Initial engineering estimates put the project cost at about $540,000, of which the county was going to provide $302,000, with the remainder paid through special assessment.

Mill said he had been researching asphalt prices recently, and it appears that asphalt prices are going to be much higher than expected, raising his estimate to about $720,000. The asphalt cost rose from $420,000 to $650,000 with an additional $70,000 in earthwork.

Burnt Creek and Riverview townships were going to pay for the earthwork, with the county's share going toward the paving. The amount to be special assessed went from $119,000 to $184,000, and the county share went from $302,000 to $466,000.

"There was an assumed finite amount each resident was willing to kick in to make this work," Mill said. "There is a significant increase, and I'm wondering if our partners can handle the additional expense."

The county won't know the exact cost of the project until it is put out for bid. Mill said that his department could move forward with the engineering and put it out for bid. After receiving the bids, the commission could then decide whether to proceed, but if it decided to stop the project there will be a certain amount of wasted effort and time on the part of the engineering department. Mill said that he was about 95 percent sure the bid will come in at his latest estimate.

"Seeing how the cost has gone up so drastically, I think we should go back and talk with the initiators of the petition and get their ideas," commissioner Doug Schonert said. "I hate to go ahead and go through the engineering process, put out a bid and decide not to go to work."

Mill said that it is possible to reduce costs by narrowing the width of the road and reducing the thickness. But he advised against this because of all the truck traffic that uses the road to get to the private landfill.

"We could make it narrower and thinner, but this increases the possibility it might fail structurally," Mill said.

Schonert, who holds the roads portfolio, said he didn't want to cut costs, which could reduce the safety factor.

"I agree," commissioner Jim Peluso said. "We agreed to this project because of the safety issue. Removing it is absurd."

The commission decided to put the issue on the April 16 meeting agenda, inviting the petitioners to take part and see if they were still willing to participate in the project.