A Route 1 repaving project in Scarborough is one of the casualties of skyrocketing oil prices, as the state Department of Transportation put some $13.5 million in paving projects on hold indefinitely last week.

According to the DOT, liquid asphalt – one of the key ingredients in blacktop – more than doubled in price from $307.50 per ton in January to $765 per ton as of Aug. 4, and is expected to continue to rise.

“The extraordinary inflation of liquid asphalt has left us with little choice but to suspend future paving projects,” DOT Commissioner David Cole said in a prepared statement. “We cannot afford to continue with paving projects that are scheduled for later this year, nor would it be wise for us to use funds to do so.”

Projects put on hold include those in Portland, Windham, Gorham, Gardiner, Litchfield, Saco, Auburn, Biddeford, Monmouth, Lewiston, Lisbon, Yarmouth and Scarborough.

DOT says that if asphalt prices go down – which they usually do in the fall and winter – the department hopes to complete the delayed projects next summer.

Although paving of the roughly 1-1/2 mile section of Route 1 from Broadturn Road to the Saco town line in Scarborough was supposed to be delayed in its entirety, Town Manager Ron Owens said local officials have convinced DOT to put down at least one layer of paving so the town can complete the new sidewalks currently under construction on either side of the roadbed.

Paving has been unusually expensive for municipalities as well this summer, but Owens said Scarborough has not been as hard-hit as DOT because the town put its projects out to bid when asphalt prices were still relatively low, whereas DOT was still soliciting bids in July.

As a result, Owens said Scarborough will still go ahead with most of the paving projects it had planned to do this year.

Town Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer said Scarborough is expecting to pave fewer miles of road than town officials had hoped, but the town will not put any projects on hiatus in hope of better asphalt prices next summer.

“My preference would be do what you can now, because I don’t think the price is going to go down,” Messer said.

While liquid asphalt is the blacktop component that’s seen the most volatile price rise, prices of many other ingredients such as gravel have been inching up as well, due to factors such as increased transportation costs.

According to information from the DOT, it cost the state $145,000 per mile to pave 740 miles of roads this summer.