Drivers know the rising price of oil makes their cars more expensive to fill up, but they may not know that the same price increase is driving up the price of the road they drive on.

Municipal officials responsible for paving roads know, and they're seeing the rising price reflected in their budgets.

"The primary component of asphalt is oil," North Huntingdon Township engineer Andrew Blenko said.

The price of liquid asphalt, the tar that holds together the rocks in the pavement, has risen from a price of $372 a ton in April to $482 a ton this month. That rise translates into a price of more than $70 for a ton of finished asphalt, compared to the $57.79 the township paid last year.

"As things continue, we can't get as much done with our paving dollar," Blenko said.

Irwin Borough faces the same increases. Borough manager Mary Benko agreed the higher price presented governments with a difficult choice: pay more or pave less.

In communities with tight budgets, that choice inevitably falls on the side of not spending.

"As the prices go up, the amount of paving shrinks," Benko said.

She said the cost of paving already had forced Irwin to scale back its paving planning, resulting in few miles of streets fixed this year.

Most municipalities get the majority of their roadwork budget from Pennsylvania's gasoline tax. The state uses most of that tax to repair and maintain state roads, but around 14 percent goes back to municipalities to cover their road costs.

Each municipality gets a cut, based on its population and total road mileage. Rick Kirkpatrick, PennDOT press officer, said total revenue from the tax has gone up, which means more money has gone to local municipalities.

From 2001 to 2002 the state disbursed $252 million to local governments. Last year that number had risen to $300 million.

But once that increase is spread over the numerous governments in the state, Blenko said it's not enough to keep pace with rising prices.

"I can't think of one municipality that could keep pace with paving with just the liquid fuels funds," Blenko said.

While most municipalities use money from their general funds to meet the shortfall, North Huntingdon relies solely on state money to pave its roads. Blenko said if the township plans to keep doing so, it will have to rethink how it chooses roads to work on.

In 2007 the township paved 2.5 miles of roads. But with nearly 140 miles of roads in North Huntingdon, Blenko said that rate won't keep pace.

"That means every road would get paved every 49 and a fraction years," he said.

Blenko recommended the township try stretching its asphalt budget by using asphalt overlays to repair roads without completely redoing them. He also suggested focusing on the roads in mid-range of decay in an effort to keep them from turning into the worst roads.

"You shouldn't be attacking your worst roads," Blenko said. "We never want to ignore those bad roads, but we shouldn't constantly work from the bottom of the list up."

Focusing on the midrange roads would keep more roads in better shape, allowing the township to cover more miles with the same money, Blenko said.