Blame cokers. Or light crude. Or the rising price of oil.

Either way, Pierce County has run out of asphalt.

The county announced Tuesday it was canceling preventative chipsealing maintenance of 48 lane miles of roads because of a shortage of liquid asphalt. Its supplier, Albina Asphalt Products of Vancouver, Wash., ran out of the product earlier this month after a halt in manufacturing at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes.

It had originally planned to chipseal 70 lane miles throughout the unincorporated areas, Lakewood, University Place and Edgewood. The county said no other regional sources are available, and almost all of its 3,100 lane miles are made of asphalt, making most alternative methods unfeasible.

The county is divided into four road districts, and only the Purdy district completed the maintenance.

“That leaves Districts 1, 2 and 3 without getting a surface treatment,” said Paul Marsh, a superintendent in the road operations division of the public works and utilities department. “That’s everything west of the (Narrows) Bridge.”

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Jose Garcia has an idea that could make him rich.

It’s a board – sturdy, light and relatively cheap – that holds 20 tic-tac-toe squares made from red construction paper. You can take the board in the car and play with a passenger at red lights. Stick it in your backpack and challenge someone between classes. And, with a price tag of $3, you can just toss it in the trash when all the squares are filled up.

“It’s for people who like playing tic-tac-toe,” said Jose, who will be a third-grader at Roosevelt Elementary School in Tacoma in the fall. “Everyone likes playing tic-tac-toe.”

And Garcia had a chance to test his prototype in the open market. He was one of 53 elementary students taking place in Kid City, a two-week day camp at the Portland Avenue Resource Center that allows the campers to run businesses to learn financial responsibility and planning skills.

The campers, who come from McKinley, Blix and Roosevelt elementary schools, were split into seven groups selling everything from manicures to hand-drawn cards to snacks. They spent a few hours every morning honing their budding business skills, like writing checks, keeping inventory and filling out paperwork. They played outside during the afternoon.

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Today is Take 3 on talking to residents living on streets plagued with bad potholes.

Also, if you've got any stories about a run-in with a crater-sized chunk of missing road, feel free to e-mail me with it.