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Buckle Up: Click-It-Or-Ticket Enforcement Begins Monday
May 16, 2008
Six years ago, Texas had a problem: too many people were dying on the highway. Studies of this problem revealed that that number could be dramatically reduced simply by encouraging motorists and their passengers to use their seatbelts, and the Click-It-Or-Ticket Campaign was born Six years later, TxDOT is one of the few states in the nation that can boast a seatbelt compliance of 90 percent or greater, and while fatalities on the highway haven’t gone away, they have been reduced. For more on TxDOT’s involvement in the Click-It-Or-Ticket Campaign, I spoke with Terry Pence, Director of TxDOT’s Traffic Safety Section. Here are three things you should know about how to avoid getting a seatbelt-related ticket: 1. All drivers and front seat passengers in all vehicles are required by Texas law to be secured by a safety belt. No exceptions; 2. Children younger than 17 years old must be secured with a safety belt or in a child safety seat; regardless of where they are sitting in the vehicle. 3. A child younger than five years old and less than 36 inches tall must ride in a child safety seat. Listen
One Down, One To Go: TxDOT Practicing Contraflow As Hurricane Season Approaches
May 09, 2008
With one mock contraflow exercise behind us, and one to go, TxDOT’s emergency management team is evaluating the changes its made since Hurricane Rita struck in 2005. We’ve been lucky as a state that we haven’t had another hurricane since Rita, but that doesn’t mean we’ve been sitting back and hoping against hope that we never get another one. For more on the April 30 contraflow exercise, what we’ve learned and what we’ve accomplished, I spoke with Scott Alley, TxDOT’s Emergency Management Coordinator. Listen
Public Transit Use Skyrocketing In Face Of Rising Gasoline Prices
May 02, 2008
We were talking in last week’s episode about the prices of gasoline rising beyond $4 per gallon, and possibly reaching $8 per gallon. Most of us agree that gasoline at $4 per gallon is enough of a nightmare, enough so that many folks around the nation, including here in Texas, are seeking alternative modes of transportation such as public transit. As it turns out, public transit is something in which both the federal government and the state of Texas have invested heavily, and now, it appears that those investments are beginning to pay off in a record way. For more on TxDOT’s involvement with public transit, I spoke with Eric Gleason, the Director of TxDOT’s Public Transportation Division. Listen
The Trickle-Down Effects of Rising Gas Prices
April 25, 2008
As if motorists didn’t have enough to worry about as gasoline prices continue to hit all-time highs, one of the trickle-down effects of those high prices is less fuel being consumed. Since motorists in Texas pay for their highways by paying a set rate on each gallon of fuel they purchase, any sharp decline in fuel purchases will mean less funding over time for the upkeep of existing highways and construction for new highways. In a state where we were already feeling the crunch because of the rising costs of construction materials, less money in the revenue streams is more bad news. How will motorists and highway departments cope with this trend if it continues? To find out, I spoke with Dr. Peter Bishop, Associate Professor at the University of Houston’s College of Technology’s Future Studies Program, who spoke with me at last week’s Texas Transportation Forum in Austin. Listen
Talking Transportation: The Texas Transportation Forum
April 18, 2008
It’s time again for the Texas Transportation Forum, where some of the best minds in transportation come to discuss the transportation issues of today and tomorrow. The event begins Sunday at the Hilton Austin, located at 500 East 4th Street, and lasts through Tuesday, featuring a general session and breakout sessions on a variety of topics. For more on this year’s forum, I spoke with Randall Dillard with TxDOT’s Government and Public Affairs Division in Austin. Listen
"Public-Private Partnerships"
April 11, 2008
Whether we realize it or not, the United States of America was built largely on public-private partnerships. Those partnerships can combine the best our society has to offer in terms of private innovation and public resources. In Texas, public-private partnerships may be the ticket to bridging the funding gap between maintaining the state’s aging highway infrastructure, and the need for new highways to keep up with a population that grows by an average of 1,000 people each day. For some perspective, I asked Dr. Joe Giglio, professor of strategic management at the College of Business at Northeastern University in Boston, and author several books on transportation, including “Driving Questions” to return to the podcast. Listen
FY '09 UTP: A Billion-Dollar Balancing Act
April 04, 2008
Each year, the Texas Department of Transportation compiles a huge financial document called the Unified Transportation Plan, or UTP, which essentially outlines how much money TxDOT will have to spend on all its activities in the next 11 years. Chief among these activities are TxDOT’s cornerstones of construction and maintenance, each one demanding more and more each year as our funding dollars get weaker. The discussion so far around the FY 2009 UTP has been how to best balance the needs of both cornerstones, without selling either one badly short. Between state gas tax money, bond money, and uncertain federal funding, the bottom line for TxDOT is that it’s difficult enough to predict one or two years in the future, let alone 10 or 11 years as the UTP is intended to do. That burden falls to James Bass, TxDOT’s Chief Financial Officer, who joins us on the podcast. Listen
North Carolina Poll: State Favors Rail vs. New Construction
March 28, 2008
North Carolina residents recently identified gas prices and public transportation as the chief transportation concerns facing the state, according to the latest Elon University Poll. Respondents said they are receptive to establishing new methods of transportation, such as railways, yet displayed opposition to most funding alternatives. The poll, conducted earlier this month by the Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs, surveyed 473 North Carolina residents. For more on this study and what North Carolinians are considering to solve their transportation funding issues, I spoke with Hunter Bacot, associate professor of political science and director of the Elon Poll. Find more information about the poll here: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/elonpoll/ Listen
TRIP: Study Quantifies The Effects Of Poor Pavement Conditions
March 21, 2008
TRIP, a national non-profit transportation research group, recently released a nationwide study that stated on average, poor pavement conditions cause the average motorist to pay several hundred dollars per year in vehicle repairs and maintenance above normal wear and tear. An alarming thought, to be sure, but one we as drivers have probably already come to grips with. Having that amount quantified was something new, though, since the amounts varied city-to-city and state-to-state within the study’s limits. To find out more about how TRIP arrived at those costs, and what they mean for us here in Texas, I spoke with Carolyn Boniface, the assistant director for research and communication for TRIP. Listen
Contraflow: Practicing An Efficient Mass Evacuation
March 14, 2008
We all know that practice makes perfect, and if not perfect, than practice at least improves efficiency. TxDOT, and a host of other state agencies will attempt to do just that this week when they begin planning a mock hurricane evacuation scheduled for April, and for more on that, I spoke with Scott Alley, TxDOT’s emergency management coordinator. Listen
"A Transportation Portfolio"
March 07, 2008
What is transportation? For most of us, it’s getting ourselves efficiently where we need to go, and for most of us, that means highways. Lots of highways. But perspectives on transportation vary from place to place, and from need to need. Depending on what you’re trying to move, transportation can also be about aviation, rail, and public transit. In order to keep large economies moving, all forms of transportation must work together to share the load, especially as funding for highways across the country is drying up. For more on this concept, I spoke with Dr. Joe Giglio, professor of strategic management at the College of Business at Northeastern University in Boston, and author of several books on transportation, including his latest, entitled “Driving Questions.” Listen
Farm-to-Market Roads and the Interstate: Texas Legacies
February 29, 2008
Webster’s Dictionary defines a legacy as anything handed down, as from an ancestor. A broad definition to be sure. And as we move through our lives, many of us wonder what our legacy might be, either personally or professionally. As Texans, we’re driving on the legacy left to us by past administrations of the Texas Department of Transportation. Those legacies include over 80,000 centerline miles of highways across the state, 40,000 miles of which are Texas’ unique Farm-to-Market system, which was officially created by the Colson-Briscoe Act of 1949. Later, the Interstate System was commissioned in the 1950’s and largely completed in the 70s and 80s. Hard is that is to believe, that was more than 30 years ago. Few things created so long ago are still functioning as well as our highway system, but even it is nearing the end of its design life, and that design life will end in our lifetime. A comment made during January’s Town Hall meetings got us thinking about legacies, and to expand on that comment, I spoke with Phil Russell, TxDOT’s Executive Director of Innovative Project Development. Listen
We Are Not Alone: Alabama Exploring Transportation Funding Alternatives
February 22, 2008
As Texas continues on its journey toward solving its highway funding issues, it’s only natural to feel like we’re the only state in the nation facing these problems and the choices proposed to solve them. But a recent article in the Montgomery Advertiser, a newspaper in Montgomery, Alabama, painted a different picture – Alabama is also facing a funding crisis that sounds oddly familiar. To find out what Alabama is considering as it takes a hard look at its highway funding shortage, I spoke with Cosby Woodruff, the Advertiser’s business reporter. To find out more about Alabama’s funding situation, look for Cosby’s byline at the Advertiser’s Web site, www.montgomeryadvertiser.com. Listen
Seeing the Bigger Funding Picture
February 15, 2008
While last week's hearing in front of the state Senate Finance Committee wasn't the most comfortable way for TxDOT's administration to spend an afternoon, the hearing did serve to narrow the conversation about transportation and future funding for transportation. At issue at one point was TxDOT's "lost billion dollars," which was the result of a mathematical error in a fiscal-year projection. In other words, we counted one of our eggs twice. The feel of the hearing was one of two friends disagreeing, and finding out over a heated discussion that it was a miscommunication that started the whole thing in the first place. And, as Chris Lippincott of TxDOT's Government and Public Affairs Division in Austin told me, there is a silver lining. Listen
Texas License Plates: Not Just Another Piece of Metal
February 08, 2008
21 million registered vehicles in Texas and growing. Even at that pace, and as large as Texas is, we’re just now running out of six character alpha-numeric combinations for Texas license plates. So as Texas plans to put a seventh alpha-numeric character on its license plates, we thought it might also be a good time to refresh the look of the license plate. To help TxDOT make a decision on which design might ultimately adorn the new Texas license plates, we’ve put it to a vote on our web site, www.txdot.gov. And while it will be interesting to see which design ultimately wins the voting contest, License plates are much more than a piece of metal you attach to your vehicle. To find out more, I spoke with Rebecca Davio, the director of TxDOT’s Vehicle Title and Registration Division. Listen
Town Hall Meetings and Public Hearings: TxDOT Outreach Campaign Continues
February 01, 2008
As January turns to February, TxDOT’s series of Town Hall meetings on Transportation throughout South and East Texas is wrapping up, while the next series of meetings is set to begin this week. This series of meetings, called public hearings, differ from Town Hall meetings in one crucial way – TxDOT officials, by federal law, are not permitted to respond to comments or questions submitted to them. In the past, this has caused many hard feelings because the public naturally wants and deserves answers to questions about projects that could impact them and their communities. In response to such criticism, TxDOT opened this year with its Town Hall meetings in advance of the public hearings to make sure the public knew it was heard, and their questions were addressed and answers. To tell us how the Town Hall meetings went and what to expect from the public hearings, I spoke with Phil Russell, TxDOT’s Deputy Executive Director for Innovative Project Development. Listen
Victoria MPO: "The People Want To See I-69 Completed"
January 25, 2008
The City of Victoria, known as the South Texas Crossroads, is located on a hub of several major US highways, including US 59, US 77 and US 87. Among many other things, Victoria is home to nearly two dozen trucking companies and a multimodal port area that employs over 9,000 workers and brings in $1.2 billion in business each year. It’s also in the I-69/TTC study area, and will host a Town Hall meeting on transportation on Tuesday, January 29. To find out what the I-69/TTC project might mean for Victoria and the surrounding region, I spoke with Ray Miller, director of the Victoria Metropolitan Planning Organization. Listen
1909 Commission: A Federal View on the Future of Transportation Funding
January 25, 2008
The 1909 Commission, formed two years ago to study the future of transportation funding in the United States, released its recommendations last week. One of its most talked-about recommendations was to raise the federal gasoline tax from its current rate of 18.4 cents per gallon by 5-8 cents each year for the next five years. It also encouraged states to do the same – only at a faster rate. To find out what this could mean for us here in Texas, I spoke with Chris Lippincott with TxDOT’s Government and Public Affairs Division in Austin. Listen
Brazos Valley: "It's Imperative That We're Included"
January 18, 2008
Going into the Trans-Texas Corridor series of projects, we've heard a lot about how big the study areas are. But for the citizens the Brazos Valley Area, including the city of College Station, the study area wasn’t wide enough because their area wasn’t originally included. As a result, community leaders, as College Station Deputy City Manager Terry Childers explains, worked together to get the Brazos Valley included in the discussion about where I-69/TTC would ultimately go. Listen
Town Hall Meetings: "We're Going to do a lot of Listening"
January 11, 2008
You asked for it, and now, you’ll get it. Beginning this week, the Texas Department of Transportation will host 11 town-hall-style meetings along the proposed I-69/TTC study corridor, stretching from Texarkana to Houston, and from Houston to Laredo and Harlingen. And this time, unlike the now infamous TTC-35 public hearings, we’ll be able to answer your questions. For more information on what we hope these meetings will accomplish, I spoke with Texas Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton, who is scheduled to attend the meetings in Hempstead, Huntsville and Rosenberg later this month. Listen
