In November 2023, the All American Asphalt plant in Irvine ceased production. The property is being sold to the city and will be converted into a new preserve and trailhead area for the Northern Open Space Preserve. This is great for local outdoors enthusiasts and is popular with people living in the area. But what about the contractors who use asphalt and their customers?

What Is the Impact on the Industry?

The plant closure leaves a hole in southern California in terms of asphalt availability. It means materials are less available in the area between Irvine and San Diego. There is as yet no word of a replacement plant. It seems unlikely anything will be built in the near or medium future and even if a new plant was started tomorrow, it will be some time before it can open.

This means that materials have to be brought longer distances, at greater cost. This also increases the risk of material cooling before installation, which lowers the quality of the finished product. Until and unless a new plant opens, thus, projects in this area will face increased costs and a higher risk of quality issues.

As mentioned, the plant closure is popular with people in the area, who felt it was too close to their homes. In addition to the trailhead, they will build some new housing on the site to offset those costs. But this leaves us with the nearest All American plants being the other side of the park near Norco, between Irvine and Riverside, or all the way south by Del Mar. Other providers are also a significant distance away, often without direct routes. In addition to increased costs, this will result in higher fuel usage and potential environmental impacts.

It's our job to mitigate the impact of this change on us and our customers as much as we can, but that is challenging and we will not be able to remove all impact on you.

How Can These Issues Be Mitigated?

There's nothing we can do about the All American Asphalt plant closure. The issue has been building for a while, with large numbers of complaints from residents. It seems unlikely that they will construct a new plant in the area.

This, unfortunately, leaves contractors with little choice but to pass on the higher costs to asphalt repair and installation customers. Additionally, we have to adjust installment times and procedures to reduce the risk of quality problems.

Looking after your asphalt driveway or parking lot is the only way to minimize the impact on you as a customer. Regular inspections mean we can do cheaper repairs instead of having to repave entire sections of your lot. For some projects, we might now recommend concrete instead. Remember that the biggest enemy of your parking lot is water. Look into ways to improve your drainage. We can mill the surface to help water run off it and reduce pooling on your asphalt.

In general, the less asphalt you can use, the better. While we don't anticipate an actual shortage, our materials costs have inevitably gone up.

While we hope that changes for the better will happen, we have to deal with the situation as it currently stands. California's long distances mean that any change in supply locations can impact us strongly. However, we are doing our best to ensure materials quality stays high.

As Southern California's highest-rated paving contractor, we will do everything in our power to minimize the effect of the All American Asphalt plant closure on our customers. Contact us to find out how we can help you repair or repave your parking lot.