Fuel is only half of what is happening to your haul costs. The other half is whether a truck is available at all. Spot truckload rates dipped slightly in mid-August but remain roughly 38 percent above the same week last year, and most freight brokers expect capacity to tighten further over the next three to six months. For Texas contractors scheduling aggregate deliveries, that combination matters more than the weekly rate print. It means the trucks hauling your base are competing with the whole freight economy, and the day you need one is the day everyone else does too.
A one-week dip in a rate index is not the same thing as relief.
Spot truckload rates fell 2.2 percent in the week ending August 14 to $3.20 a mile, but they remain 38.2 percent higher than the same week a year ago (Source: Commercial Carrier Journal, August 2026). Looking forward, roughly 72 percent of freight brokers expect available capacity to tighten further over the next three to six months, and spot rates are widely forecast to run 20 to 25 percent above prior-year levels through the rest of 2026.
Aggregate hauling does not happen in its own private truck market. When rates across the freight economy are elevated and capacity is contracting, the trucks and drivers that could haul your road base have other options. That shows up in ways that feel small until they are not: a quote that takes longer to turn, fewer trucks free on the exact day the crew is ready, and no slack to recover a missed delivery window.
Spot truckload rates remain 38.2 percent above the same week last year, and about 72 percent of brokers expect capacity to tighten further.
Source: Commercial Carrier Journal, August 2026
Layer that on top of a record diesel price and you get the real picture: the haul side of your delivered number is under pressure from both directions at once, cost and availability.
Treat trucking as a scheduled resource, not a same-day errand. Give your supplier the placement schedule far enough ahead that capacity is reserved rather than chased, and be specific about the days that cannot move, like a compaction or paving window. Where a job allows it, build flexibility into the days that can move so your supplier can balance the load. Request a delivered quote and put the schedule on record.
Expect elevated rates and tight capacity into the fall rather than a return to last year’s market. The contractors who plan haul capacity alongside crew scheduling will keep moving while the ones treating trucks as commodity spot buys will spend mornings on the phone.
Book your trucks like you book your crew. Right now they are just as hard to find.
Call 214-282-7980 or request a quote at aggregatesnow.com.