<div>KARNES CITY — Massive commercial developments in neighboring counties are causing severe trucking and material shortages across South Texas, threatening to push Karnes County road construction costs up by 13% to 14%, County Road & Bridge Engineer Wayne Gisler reported to commissioners on Aug. 11. Gisler presented an analysis of county road maintenance costs, explaining that recent road projects on County Road 223, County Road 357 and in the Hobson area suffered sudden delays when material suppliers failed to deliver expected daily aggregate tonnages. "We used to get 5,000 to 6,000 tons of material daily when we needed it," Gisler said. "All of a sudden, my contractors were screaming because they couldn't even get 1,000 tons." Upon contacting the county’s primary material suppliers—Colorado Materials and CEMEX—Gisler discovered that demand from major regional construction projects has pulled hauling capacity away from local governments. Specifically, three massive developments—two data centers in Bastrop and Wilson counties and a SpaceX facility in Bastrop—are demanding a combined 3 million tons of material from the exact same quarries Karnes County uses. The primary bottleneck is not the raw material itself, but a shortage of haul trucks. While Karnes County pays roughly $1,350 per day per haul truck, private developers for SpaceX and the data centers are offering truckers $1,850 to $2,000 per day. "All of our truckers were being bought up," Gisler explained. He estimated that capital road construction costs, which currently average $491,700 per mile, could increase significantly if the county cannot actively manage delivery staging. Gisler noted that with over 250 data center projects planned statewide, high material demand could persist for up to five years. To mitigate price hikes, the Road & Bridge Department is staging smaller, regular deliveries of roughly 40 truckloads per day rather than demanding massive bulk shipments. Gisler assured the court that contractual mechanisms within the county's Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts will help insulate taxpayers from sudden price spikes.</div>

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KARNES CITY — Massive commercial developments in neighboring counties are causing severe trucking and material shortages across South Texas, threatening to push Karnes County road construction costs up by 13% to 14%, County Road & Bridge Engineer Wayne Gisler reported to commissioners on Aug. 11. Gisler presented an analysis...

Regional mega-projects driving up Karnes County road costs, engineer warns

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KARNES CITY — Massive commercial developments in neighboring counties are causing severe trucking and material shortages across South Texas, threatening to

Regional mega-projects driving up Karnes County road costs, engineer warns

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