TxDOT-Statewide Podcast

Any laws passed by the 82nd Legislature go into effect today, including a handful of bills relating to speed limits in Texas. For more on the new laws, I spoke to TxDOT Speed Zone Engineer Darren McDaniel.

In the process of building and maintaining highways across the state, TxDOT uses a variety of measurements. Among them, traffic counts are perhaps the most telling, since the number of vehicles on the roadway can help designers determine how the roadway will hold up, and help maintenance workers determine when maintenance might be needed. A wild card in that process, however, is the weather. Particularly extreme weather. And nowhere in Texas has the weather been more extreme or detrimental to the pavement this year than in Austin. For more on the weather's effects on roadways, I spoke with Lowell Choate, Director of Maintenance in the Austin District.Note: This episode was originally recorded in late 2009.

The first steps to make I-69 a reality in Texas occurred earlier this month when the Federal Highway Administration informed TxDOT that it had granted a request to add part of US 77 to the Interstate system. Stretching six miles between Interstate 37 and SH 44 in South Texas, the request to redesignate the route reflected the combined wishes and support of the Texas Congressional Delegation, the Texas Legislature, local officials and citizen-led I-69 advisory and segment committees. Unlike its sister and brother numbered Interstate routes, Interstate 69 was an afterthought to the planners of the original Interstate highway system. In fact, planning only began 20 years ago for I-69, a route that could one day begin at the U.S.-Mexico Border in Laredo, pass through seven states, and finally cross into Canada through Michigan. But as Matt Delliger outlined in his book, Interstate 69: The Unfinished History of the Last Great American Highway, I-69 has a long way to go, not only in Texas but along its entire proposed route. Read more from Matt Delliger at his web site, www.mattdellinger.com. Note: This episode was originally recorded in late 2010.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously noted that the only constant in life is change. He could have been speaking about the Texas Department of Transportation, particularly under the leadership of outgoing executive director Amadeo Saenz. Saenz, who will retire at the end of August, has been at the helm of the good ship TxDOT as it navigated some of the worst rocks and shoals in its 90-year history, but his dedication and perseverance have taken TxDOT over the horizon and into a new era. I spoke with Mr. Saenz recently for a retrospective on his 34 years at TxDOT.

Faced with the problem of traffic waiting through multiple signal cycles at one of its busiest intersections, Legacy and Preston, the city of Plano decided to try something different. The result, commonly called a Michigan Left Turn or Median Left Turn, asks motorists who wish to turn left, to turn right instead and then make a u-turn. One year later, the experiment is an unqualified success. To find out more, I spoke with Lloyd Neal, the city's Traffic Engineering Manager.

Labeled by the media as "Carmageddon", the decision by California's Department of Transportation, known as CalTrans, to close a portion of Interstate 405 in Southern California over a recent weekend initially drew some harsh criticism. And then, as if waking from a bad dream the following Monday morning, the 405 was back open and operating as normal. For more on what CalTrans did and why; I spoke with CalTrans public information officer Judy Gish.

So you're sitting at a traffic light waiting to turn left. But while the light in the thru-lanes stays red, the signal presents you with a flashing yellow arrow. You tell yourself, "that's new. I guess that means I need to yield?" To find out, I spoke with Carol Rawson, the director of TxDOT's Traffic Operations Division.

The current federal transportation reauthorization bill, SAFTEA-LU, was signed into law in 2005 and expired in 2009. Since it expired, it has been continued more than 10 times at a cost of billions of dollars to keep money flowing for federal-aid and federally funded transportation projects across the nation. But a new bill is finally in the works. Sponsored by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica of Florida, the bill, entitled 'A New Direction', is moving forward on a foundation of back to basics. For some insight into the draft bill, I spoke with a member of the T&I committee, Freshman Congressman Blake Farenthold of the Texas 27th.

Former United States Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta left office in 2006, and yet his legacy lives on today. Author of the first of several transportation reauthorization bills in his time in the U.S. Congress and as the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mineta was Secretary of Transportation when the most recent transportation authorization bill - the now-expired SAFETEA-LU - was passed into law in 2005. In the meantime, instead of a writing new federal transportation reauthorization bill, Congress has reauthorized SAFETEA-LU ten times since it expired in 2009. For more on the impact of those temporary reauthorizations and how transportation has changed since SAFETEA-LU was passed into law, I spoke with the former Secretary and current Global Vice Chairman of Hill & Knowlton.

Every summer, as the temperatures rise, so do fatal crashes involving teens, prompting the American Automobile Association, also known as Triple A, to launch its "100 Deadliest Days of Summer" campaign. For more on the campaign, I spoke with Sonta Henderson, a government affairs and community relations specialist for AAA Texas. For more information on discussing safe driving with your teen or just developing safer driving habits for yourself, log on to teendriving.aaa.com.

The movie Cars 2 opened June 24, and over the next few weeks and months, millions of Americans particularly children will see the movie. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, has created a series of public service announcements featuring characters from the movie in hopes of helping to get its traffic safety message across. To find out more, I spoke with NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. Find the NHTSA-Cars 2 public service announcement on YouTube by searching keywords: Only Bad Guys Drive Distracted.

As the temperature rises in Texas, so does the risk of wildfires. Perhaps no one knows that better than the Texas Forest Service, which is the main state agency involved in coordinating the overall response to the dozens of wildfires burning across the state. But the springtime drought conditions in East Texas have thrown responders a curveball. To find out more, I spoke with David Abernathy, Assistant Chief of the Texas Forest Service's Incident Response Department.

Taking the scenic route typically means taking the long way around. Unless you're talking about taking one of TxDOT's ferry boats. Operating 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, the fleet of TxDOT ferry boats in Galveston and Port Aransas help an average of 11,000 cars per day take the scenic route and a short cut at the same time. For more on TxDOT ferry operations, I spoke with Bill Mallini, TxDOT's Galveston Ferry Operations Manager. To find out more about TxDOT's ferry operations, log on to the TxDOT web site and search keyword: marine.

While most of us in Texas were enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend, our neighbors to the northeast in Missouri were still picking up the pieces from one of the biggest and deadliest tornadoes in United States history. For more on the recovery effort in the greater Joplin area, I spoke with Becky Baltz, District 7 Engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The top four causes of death in America each year are medically related. In order, they are: heart disease, cancer, stroke and lower respiratory diseases. The fifth leading cause? Accidents. A recent study conducted by the University of Texas showed that even though teenaged drivers make up only six percent of all the drivers on the road, they are involved in over 12 percent of all the fatal crashes. That statistic makes traffic crashes the leading cause of death for their age group. For more on this study, I spoke with Dr. Chandra Bhat, professor of Civil Archetecture and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas.