Make hay while the sun shines — or, in this case, pave streets while the costs are low.

Butler City Council last week committed $200,000 to street paving projects this summer, nearly double the amount the city spent to resurface streets in 2014.

And this year we’re certain to get more bitumen for the buck.

Bitumen is the thick petroleum product used in the manufacture of asphalt the stuff that makes streets black. Asphalt prices spiked about five years ago along with virtually every over petroleum product. Since then, the Marcellus Shale boom has lowered prices of most energy products, but in this case the thickest has come down the slowest.

“Oil prices have been going down, and liquid-asphalt prices have finally gone downward,” Jay Hansen, executive vice president at the National Asphalt Pavement Association, said last month in a trade publication.

Lower overall energy prices will lower the cost of applying the pavement, too. Wiest Asphalt Products and Paving, which was awarded the city’s contract, bid $70,000 less than the city anticipated, reflecting the contractor’s confidence that energy prices won’t rebound anytime soon.

Here’s the repaving lineup: Race Street from West Diamond to South Chestnut Street; Patterson Avenue from the brick to the city line; West Diamond Street from Chestnut to Liberty Street and from Liberty to South Washington Street; Miller Avenue from Snyder Avenue to Brady Street; Fairview Avenue from Gamma Avenue to Center Avenue; Spruce Street from Third Street to Fifth Street; Oak Street from East Brady Street to East Pearl Street; Freemont Street from Morton Avenue to Mackey Avenue; and Jackson Street from Jefferson Street to North Street.

The city hopes also to pave East Penn Street from McKean to Franklin and from Main to McKean, and Goldwood Avenue from Hansen to Sixth, funding permitting.

The net result, according to Councilman Richard Schontz Jr., is more paving anticipated this summer than in the past three years combined.

In addition, the city redevelopment authority will pave another $75,000 worth of streets and will use state grant funding to pay for it.

Those streets include Heim Avenue from Zeigler to Marvin; Brugh Avenue from Fairview to Walker; Pleasantview Avenue from East Boyd to Stone; and East Boyd from Center to Pleasantview.

Schontz said the city streets department also will handle smaller paving projects of side streets and alleys. Council last week spent $2,000 on a used mini-paver to enable the extra work.

On the face of it, we’ll all face traffic delays, detours and other inconveniences when the paving starts. On the other hand, we’re getting streets fixed at bargain prices. We really don’t want to consider any other alternative to that.