TX Office: 
Texas is a car-centric state. As a result, the government devotes plenty of resources each year to highway expansion and transportation infrastructure. In fact, 2026 is the first year of a massive, decade-long $146 billion highway spending plan.
The big projects the funding supports will require an enormous volume of aggregate materials. The surge in demand will significantly impact supply, pricing, and logistics of securing certain materials. Consequently, it will also affect planning for any commercial construction projects you’re considering in Texas. Here’s what you need to know.
What Is Aggregate and Why Is It So Important?
Aggregate is a catch-all term that describes a class of materials including sand, recycled concrete, crushed stone, and gravel. Those materials are an essential component in an array of construction projects. They’re the main material used in concrete mixes and determine a concrete blend’s longevity and weather resistance. You’ll also find aggregate in drainage systems and in asphalt. In other words, it would be impossible to build highways, bridges, foundations, concrete, and asphalt projects without aggregate.
Why Highway Expansion Projects Consume So Much Material
At first glance, it may not be obvious why a highway expansion would call for large volumes of aggregate. After all, the finished product looks like a long stretch of blacktop, with no aggregate in sight. However, a single mile of interstate highway requires an average of 38,000 tons of aggregate to construct. Most of it is within the following layers.
Road Base and Earthwork
Most highways depend on a thick layer of coarse aggregate as a base. It helps distribute loads and prevents roadway deformation. Atop that, you’ll find a dense, compacted layer of graded finer aggregate. That is the layer upon which the roadway surface rests.
Concrete and Asphalt Production
Aggregate also serves as the primary ingredient, by volume, in concrete and asphalt. Aggregate is the component that gives the materials their strength and durability. In concrete, you’ll find a mix of coarse and fine aggregate. The former creates the concrete’s structure, and the latter fills internal voids. In asphalt, you may find multiple kinds of aggregate. It makes up about 90% of the finished surface, helps prevent wear, and provides the grip the road requires for safe travel.
How Infrastructure Projects Affect Commercial Construction
Whenever major infrastructure projects begin, they have an immediate and pronounced effect on nearby commercial construction projects. We’ve learned this firsthand from our many completed construction projects. Major infrastructure projects drive up competition for finite material supplies. Additionally, they eat up available transportation capacity, making construction logistics more difficult.
Local materials producers will alter their production schedules to meet the demand of large infrastructure projects. That can force all nearby construction projects to alter timelines to match. Depending on the location, a major infrastructure project can force other builders to source materials from farther away. That increases needed lead times and introduces added uncertainty into their projects.
Planning Around Material Demand in Today’s Market
Fortunately, major infrastructure projects like highway expansions don’t appear overnight. We typically have plenty of warning before they begin. That provides opportunities for early materials procurement to avoid the competition. And where that’s not possible, it enables more realistic project scheduling and supplier coordination. Foreknowledge of an infrastructure project encourages commercial construction firms to be more flexible in their scheduling. That way, they reduce the odds of crews on-site sitting idle for want of supplies.
How Experienced Contractors Help Reduce Material-Related Delays
Experienced contractors know how to handle competition from nearby infrastructure projects. Having seen their effects firsthand, we know how to anticipate bottlenecks, coordinate materials procurement, and adjust schedules to adapt to changing circumstances. Plus, we can engage in value engineering to further reduce material risk.
Value engineering involves analyzing construction plans to eliminate avoidable delays and cost spikes. It can include recommending alternate materials to avoid shortfalls, adjusting designs to avoid using scarce materials, and optimizing orders to avert waste. We might also alter build sequencing to account for long-lead components or materials.
What Owners Should Keep in Mind for Future Projects
Property owners must understand that the presence of infrastructure projects nearby doesn’t necessitate delays to their own. It only means they must engage with construction firms and planners that have the experience to navigate the potential conflicts they create. With an early start to planning and suitable preparations, keeping projects on time and on budget is possible. Pre-staging materials and other mitigation efforts can help your project proceed smoothly, even amid increased competition from infrastructure projects.
Plan Early for a Stronger, More Predictable Project
If you’re a property owner considering a construction project in Texas, Block Companies can help. We’re a full-service general contractor and co-developer that’s served Texas property owners since 2005. We have a reputation for honesty, integrity, and deep expertise in the construction field.
Our team can handle every aspect of your construction project, from budgeting and estimates to execution and compliance. And we have a dependable network of partners and suppliers that makes us uniquely able to complete projects, no matter the situation. Whether we’re competing with a nearby highway extension or a new bridge, we’ll keep your project moving forward.
Contact Block Companies to start planning your upcoming project in the Houston, TX area.
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