The Island County Public Works Department has halted paving projects on the island — possibly until next year.

“Our overlay contract is on hold,” said Bill Oakes, director of the county’s Public Works Department. “There’s a limited supply of asphalt oil west of the Cascades.”

He added that paving on Camano Island has been completed, but the

contractor, Krieg Construction of Oak Harbor, started at the north

end on Whidbey Island’s portion of the work and that’s as far as

they’re going. The county had planned to start paving many South End roads starting in mid-August.

Oakes said the county typically spends $2 million each year on repaving projects. An asphalt overlay of 1 to 2 inches is laid on streets, thicker for roads with high volume traffic.

“We’ve adopted a wait-and-see attitude on both price and availability,” Oakes added.

“Right now, they’re flat out of oil.”