WASHINGTON — August has been a hot month for the asphalt industry, with President Donald Trump giving multiple shoutouts for petroleum-based pavement and promising to add asphalt layers to all the streets within 3 miles of the White House.

During an Aug. 13 news conference, the president disparaged concrete roads, poorly maintained streetlights and medians that look “horrible,” saying that “the roads are better in Armenia than they are in Washington, D.C. It’s embarrassing.”

Then on Aug. 22, Trump told reporters he’ll ask Congress for $2 billion and find “a great contractor” — naming Virginia-based Clark Construction Group LLC as his choice — to resurface D.C. streets with asphalt.

On both occasions, Trump called asphalt roads “beautiful” and concrete roads “no good” because they take y

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