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Good morning.

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It is 10 a.m. And I call to order the April 30th, 2026 meeting of the Texas

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Transportation Commission in Austin, Texas. Note for the record that public notice of this

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meeting containing all items on the agenda was filed with the Secretary of State at 421

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p.m. on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026, which is at least seven days prior to the meeting

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in accordance with government code 551.044.

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At this time I would like to ask that before we begin today's meeting you place all cell

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phones and other communication devices in the silent or off mode to

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comment or

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register

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your opinion on an agenda item.

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Please complete a yellow card and identify the agenda item.

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bring that card up to our clerk Mrs. Brown here at the dais. When we get to that agenda

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item and after staff has presented the agenda item I will call your name to come to the

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podium. When you come up to the podium to speak please state your name and the organization

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you represent and then state your remarks. If your remarks do not concern an agenda

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item we will take your comments during the open comment period at the end of the

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meeting. For these comments, please complete a blue card. Again, bring that card up to

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our clerk, Mrs. Brown, here at the dais. When you come up to the podium to speak, please

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state your name, and if you're speaking on behalf of an organization, please name

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the organization. Please note that during open comment, the commission is prohibited

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by law from answering any questions or asking and engaging in any dialogue with you.

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Regardless of whether you speak on an agenda item or during the open comment period, you

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will have three minutes to provide your remarks.

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When 60 seconds remain, the yellow light on the podium timer will flash, meaning you

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should start wrapping up your comments.

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And when the red light flashes, your three minutes have expired.

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Before we begin, I am going to turn the meeting over to Executive Director Mark

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Williams.

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Thank you, Acting Chair Neu.

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At this time, I'd like to ask for everyone's full attention to be directed to the

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screens as we show the Greer Building Safety video describing emergency exits and other

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emergency procedures.

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The following is a safety briefing to help ensure your personal safety while at the Texas

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Department of Transportation Greer Building.

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In case of a medical emergency, please call 911.

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An automated external defibrillator unit is located here on level 1 in the main lobby

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at the security booth.

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First aid kits are marked and located on each floor.

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Fire extinguishers are marked and located on each floor.

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In the event of an evacuation, proceed to the nearest exit.

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Once outside, proceed to the west parking lot of the Greer Building,

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located at the corner of Congress Avenue and 11th Street.

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In case of a tornado or inclement weather, stay inside.

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Move away from exterior walls and windows.

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The designated shelters are stairwells, basement, interior hallways, and centrally located restrooms.

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In case of active shooter or bomb threat, follow instructions from the public address system and on-site security personnel for more details.

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Thank you for your time. Have a safe and productive meeting.

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Thank you, Chair Knew. That concludes our safety briefing.

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Thank you. Now we will open with comments from my fellow commissioners. I would like to start

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with comments from Commissioner Gordon,

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Commissioner Alvis. No comments, Chair. Commissioner Mead.

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No comments. Thank you.

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Commissioner Vaughn. I have a few comments. Outstanding. All right.

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Good morning. Looks like you have time. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. On April 14,

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I participated in a ribbon-cutting event for the Trinity Forest Spine Trail 2 up in Dallas.

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This is one of the final pieces of the loop, which is a 50-mile hike and bike project in

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and around Dallas.

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And the significance of this is that it is not only tying communities back together,

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but it's providing safe avenues for pedestrian and cyclists.

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I just want to give special kudos to District Engineer

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Cason Clements and the Dallas District with this needed,

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safe and popular addition to our transportation projects.

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Thank you.

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Excellent, thank you.

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I have some opening comments today.

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I had a really fun month and want to share some of that

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with you.

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So I was in Lubbock, Texas for the ribbon cutting event on

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the 16th of April.

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and they opened up projects 3A and 3B at the bottom of this loop map. The

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project is a hundred and fifty four point eight million dollar project and it

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converts Farm to Market Road 1585 from a rural two-lane road to a loop 88 six-lane

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freeway and a segment was opened and we had a great gathering including state

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Representative Carl Tepper and County Judge Curtis Parrish and Mayor

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David or Mark McBrair and then you get to the important people on the ends that

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actually did the work let's so I enjoyed being around them I always do and so they

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were on that project and did excellent an excellent job and then when you look

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in the back and it's they're a little hard to see but this was named for

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first responders. So you see some of the policemen and sheriff's deputies and

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those folks in the back of this photo. This was designated by the legislature as

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first responders memorial loop. It was really a fun event to attend and to have

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an opening for. And then I went on to even more fun with our maintenance

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section visits. So statewide, some districts have reported no injuries for long periods

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of time. So these four represent the top one and a half percent of, I thought I was having

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a stroke for a minute there, but I think I'm okay. But these folks have gone from

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From 7,270 days up to 8,756 days without injuries in their maintenance section.

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So again, the top one-and-a-half percent in this safety measure.

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And so, for the last 19 years or more, members of four Text.Maintenance crews have continued

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to return home safely without injury.

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The stellar track record of maintenance office crews in the Abilene, Atlanta, Lufkin and

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San Antonio districts were recognized by the Texas Transportation Commission acting chair

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Alvin New who paid each of them a visit.

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Safety is job number one at TechStot, said acting chair New.

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Going more than 7,000 consecutive days without an injury is an extraordinary achievement

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and it doesn't happen by chance.

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New made the surprise visits to the maintenance office crews in Stonewall County,

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Linden, San Augustine County, and Uvalde, who all lay claim to that distinction,

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treating them to lunch, handing out commemorative ball caps, and talking shop.

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And I'll show you a few slides of this. It was really a lot of fun.

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They got their very own ball caps, so each of them has something none of the rest of us have.

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that's kind of fun. They were treated to a privately funded lunch and we had a really

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good time. So let's take a look and celebrate some of these guys and gals. Stonewall County

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is in Aspermont, Texas in the Abilene District and these guys are wearing their caps and

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this is us talking shop and on the left one of them showing me their pavement scores

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and what they're doing and on the right the visiting with Sammy Salazar our safety our direction our director

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Occupational Safety Division Director

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It was you know, it's fun just to sit there and listen know what you would note

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Is that when they're really good at safety? They're really good at some other things too

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So these guys had their scores

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scores are in the 90s. Our goal is 90. Their scores are in the 90s in this particular maintenance

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section on pavement scores. And so that's the kind of tie together. Next. This one is

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over in Uvalde or down in Uvalde. And these guys are also, they're number one in the

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in Antonio District for pavement scores, number one,

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but they also are one of the four with no injuries

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for 20 years, okay?

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Next, this is handing out the ball caps

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and the ball caps were a hit, look at the selfie, okay?

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So life is good.

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And then this one you can tell there was

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a public information officer involved in the photo

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because she made me be in the front.

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So, okay. I'm coachable. And these guys, this is in, oh Gilmont, Camp Gilmont, but in, let

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me take a peek here. I'm sorry you guys. This one is Linden. It's because it doesn't match

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their county. So this one is Linden's maintenance section. And we were at their safety banquet

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which is now a picnic in celebration.

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They have their comments and those things,

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but it's not a banquet in a hall or, you know,

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it's a fun time where they get together and share time

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and play and do activities.

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So anyway, that was a great event to get to attend.

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And then we were at the San Augustine County Maintenance

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section in the Lufkin District,

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and this is that group of folks,

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and they also are doing an excellent job.

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You see the district engineer and the maintenance supervisor talking after he had his cap about

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how they got there, and then the guys sitting around talking after lunch.

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And then I want to spend time recognizing everyone that made this happen.

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So Sammy Salazar is our Occupational Safety Division Director.

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He and his team did all of the statistics gathering, and Jessica Mueller, his business

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business operations manager was really important to the gathering of events.

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These were surprise visits.

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And so these guys were also good at being clandestine in the work that they did.

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And I want to recognize Jeremy Deering with the Abilene District Engineer, as the Abilene

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District Engineer, Charles Benavides, the San Antonio District Engineer, Katie Martin,

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the Atlanta District Engineer, and Kelly Morris, the Lufkin District Engineer because

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they knew what was going to happen and they kept it quiet even with their own

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staff to help make this happen and so that's that's not easy and I heard more

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than one of them say especially the need to share good news they really had had

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trouble keeping it wrapped up. Becky Ozuna and our in internal

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communications section director gave me the opportunity to read some

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information about this that I thought was better said than I would say on my own.

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So thank her for that.

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And I will also tell you that Emily Klisby with commission support made all the meals

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happen, made a lot of this happen again where we were able to show up with barbecue and

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surprise people and give them a ball cap and those kinds of things.

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So all good stuff.

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Thank y'all for making all this happen.

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And Director Williams, do you have remarks for us?

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A few updates, thank you Chair Neu for making it out and recognizing the great work of our

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divisions and as you pointed out, you know, it is a, there is a correlation between safety

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performance and overall performance and as you recognize, our highest safety performing

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districts and sections also perform very high in other things, and it just shows the alignment

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and the importance of leadership in that area.

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So thank you for recognizing the great work of our teams.

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I want to also acknowledge it's good to have a full dais again.

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We've got five commissioners here all together, and so welcome to the whole, we got the

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whole band back together.

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So that's great.

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A couple of updates.

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I want to recognize a transition in our procurement division.

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Next month, we're going to celebrate the retirement of Ken Wood,

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our director of procurement before he goes.

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We thought it would be good to bring on the next director

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so Ken could pass on his wealth of institutional knowledge

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that he's accumulated during his tenure in that role.

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And so earlier this month we brought on our new Director of Procurement, William Bill Walsh.

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Bill has more than 15 years of experience in large-scale public procurement and contracting

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operations with a deep expertise managing complex, highly regulated portfolios across

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multiple Texas state agencies.

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He most recently served as Director of the Contracts Division at the Department of

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Family and Protective Services where he led a workforce of over 220 procurement

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and contracting professionals and oversaw more than 3,000 active contracts.

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He holds a master's degree from the University of Baltimore.

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Fort Dakota. And a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas, Q. Brian. Thank you, thank

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you. He's a graduate of the governor's executive leadership program as well. So I think Bill

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is in the office. There he is. Bill, welcome. Please join me in welcoming Bill.

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I'd also

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like to recognize, you know, as you, you know, pointed out, there's a lot of just really

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often unknown great work that goes on around the department. And our finance team in

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particular is one that I wanted to pay some attention to today. They are always looking

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at ways to save money for tech stock in the state of Texas, and most importantly, taxpayer

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money. And a lot of what they do often goes on behind the scene. We don't really go out

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and do a ribbon cutting for a bond refinancing. But you all delegate, as you will next

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month, responsibility and authority for them to carry out those actions on behalf

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of the Texas Department of Transportation and the state of Texas. And they do

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a great job of that. And last week is a great example. Textot and collaboration with RBC

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Capital Markets and Stifle, Nicholas and Company refinanced $800 million in highway improvement

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general obligation bonds. This refinancing generated over $130 million in interest rate

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savings over time or $90 million in today's dollars for Textot in the state of Texas

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which frees up cash for projects that we can use. And so this successful refinancing

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combined with previous debt refinancing efforts over the last five years has resulted in over

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$500 million in savings in today's dollars lowering the department's debt service costs.

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So that is a significant savings to the state of Texas and the taxpayers.

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This result is the work and the due diligence and vigilance of our Text.team continuously

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Obviously monitoring cost savings opportunities in the market for our debt programs, reflecting

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strong stewardship and fiscal responsibility that the team puts forth in these areas.

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Again, saving the taxpayers' money and helping us to have the resources we need to advance

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more projects.

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And Ben Asher and his team are back here.

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Thank you all for the great work that you all do in that area.

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We'll have to figure out at some point in time a way to do a ribbon-cutting ceremony

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for a bond refinancing because that's very, very appropriate.

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And then in it, so $500 million is worth at least one clap.

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Absolutely.

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Thank you.

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And then finally, we also are happy to have with us here today another group of young

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engineering assistants, future leaders with the department.

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It's always good to welcome them to join us here and afford them an opportunity to kind

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of see firsthand what happens at our commission meeting.

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And today's group is visiting us from the Yocum District and joining our young engineers

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is our Chief District Engineer, Jeff Vinclerick.

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Jeff, thank you for being here and for your leadership.

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Along with Clayton Harris, the Director of TPND and Amanda Fleing, the Design Engineer

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Supervisor with the Yocum District.

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And we want to thank you all for taking time to come to Austin today and would like to

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see if you all would mind standing up so we can recognize you all as well.

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Thank you all for being here and Chair Neu, that concludes my updates.

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Thank you, sir.

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We will now consider the approval of the minutes from the March 25, 2026 regular meeting

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of the Texas Transportation Commission.

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Members, the draft minutes have been provided to you.

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May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the March 25,

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2026 regular meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission?

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Commissioner Vaughn has made a motion.

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May I have a second?

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00:19:09,970 --> 00:19:11,090
Commissioner Mead seconds.

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I'll call for the vote.

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00:19:12,230 --> 00:19:13,530
All in favor, please say aye.

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00:19:13,670 --> 00:19:13,990
Aye.

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00:19:14,190 --> 00:19:14,790
Any opposed?

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00:19:15,450 --> 00:19:15,610
Okay.

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The vote passes unanimously.

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And Director Williams, you want to move us on to...

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Thank you, Chair Neu.

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Item 4A is the consideration of the award

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of Highway Improvement and Transportation Facilities Contracts, Construction Division

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Director Dwayne Milligan is here and he will present the site.

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Good morning.

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The April 2026 Highway Improvement Contracts and Routine Maintenance Contracts are separated

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into two-minute orders with a combined letting total of $803.15 million.

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00:19:47,110 --> 00:19:50,790
Projects with actual let dates for the month of March include local district let

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maintenance, totaling $31.14 million, and local agency let totaling $12.91 million.

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00:19:59,710 --> 00:20:04,110
The total letting dollar volume including highway improvement, routine maintenance, local agency,

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and alternative delivery projects for fiscal year 2026 to date is $4.8 billion.

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The forecasted total of these projects for the fiscal year is $10.73 billion.

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Even with the dollar volume being lower than the target set at the beginning of the

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fiscal year we are projected to let more projects than originally planned due to

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the underruns we've experienced each month and the corresponding decreases in

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the Highway Cost Index. We've been able to accelerate 88 highway improvement

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projects originally planned for fiscal year 2027. This month I report the

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March 2026 Highway Cost Index with a value of 185.72. One year ago in

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March of 25, the HCI was 208.91, representing a 11.1% year-over-year decrease.

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Four years ago in March of 22, the HCI was 131.31, representing a 41.44% increase in

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the last four years.

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This item is for the consideration of the award of rejection of contracts for highway

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improvement projects led on April 7th and 8th, 2026.

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We present 64 projects with an overall average of 6.09 bids per project, low bid value was

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approximately 787.5 million, with an overall under-run of 9.91%.

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The April 2026 projects are categorized under the following performance areas, congestion

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reduction at 342.88 million, pavement preservation at 180.1 million, safety at 98.54 million,

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enhanced connectivity at ninety four point one eight million and bridge

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00:21:44,750 --> 00:21:48,610
preservation at seventy one point eight one million pedestrian elements

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accounted for sixteen point three million and bicycle elements accounted for six

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point two million in this month's letting there are eight projects without

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standing right away utility and or railroad issues three should be cleared

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00:22:00,150 --> 00:22:04,030
next month three will be cleared in two months and to have approved

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00:22:04,030 --> 00:22:08,070
management plans staff recommends award of all sixty four highway

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00:22:08,070 --> 00:22:12,070
improvement projects. I'd be happy to answer any questions the Commission may have at this time.

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Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for Director Milligan?

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00:22:17,830 --> 00:22:25,610
Okay. Seeing none, I don't see any cards. May I have a motion to award the contracts for highway

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improvement projects listed in exhibit A to the minute order in accordance with staff's recommendation?

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00:22:31,870 --> 00:22:33,310
Okay, Commissioner Alvis.

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Second.

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Commissioner Mead makes the second.

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Call for the vote.

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All those in favor, please say aye.

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00:22:38,310 --> 00:22:38,690
Aye.

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00:22:39,330 --> 00:22:39,930
Any opposed?

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00:22:40,810 --> 00:22:42,150
Vote passes unanimously.

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Moving on to item 4B.

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Director Milligan, please continue.

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This is the consideration of the routine maintenance contracts.

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This item is for the consideration

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of the order rejection of contracts for routine maintenance

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projects led on April 7th and 8th, 2026.

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We present nine projects with an overall average of four

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bids per project. A little bit of value is approximately 15.64 million with an

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overall underrun of 7.38 percent and staff recommends award of all nine

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routine maintenance projects and I'd be happy to answer any questions the

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Commission may have at this time.

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Commissioners are there any remarks or

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00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:26,520
questions for Director Milligan? Okay seeing none may I have a motion to

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00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:30,780
award the routine maintenance contracts as listed in exhibit A to the

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in accordance with staff's recommendation.

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00:23:34,260 --> 00:23:35,380
Commissioner Mead.

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00:23:36,820 --> 00:23:38,240
Commissioner Gordon, seconds.

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00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:39,140
Call for the vote.

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00:23:39,260 --> 00:23:40,880
All those in favor, please say aye.

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00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:41,380
Aye.

311
00:23:42,020 --> 00:23:42,600
Any opposed?

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00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:44,760
Motion passes unanimously.

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00:23:46,180 --> 00:23:48,040
It's turned now to item 5A.

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And this is a discussion item on Texas Bridges and Pavements.

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You all are aware of some of the great work we do in this area.

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And we have here engineering and safety operations senior director Jessica Butler who's going

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to lead this discussion followed by some of her staff and really it's a great story

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00:24:08,940 --> 00:24:12,880
about the fantastic work that this team has been doing.

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And so Jessica, we'll turn it over to you.

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Thank you.

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00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:17,240
Good morning everyone.

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00:24:18,020 --> 00:24:22,900
I really appreciate the opportunity to provide an update on Texas bridges and pavements

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and the chance to highlight, as Mark just noted, the great work that our department

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does to maintain these critical assets.

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First, I want to provide some background and context

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to help highlight the magnitude of the challenge

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to maintain a system of this size with ever-increasing demands.

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00:24:38,780 --> 00:24:40,080
We all know that Texas is growing,

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both in traffic volume and in population,

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and you're going to hear a lot more about population.

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Shortly, all those new cars increased the demand

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on our transportation system.

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00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,020
On average, vehicle miles traveled has been growing

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00:24:52,020 --> 00:24:54,100
by about 4.5 percent per year,

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00:24:54,100 --> 00:24:57,200
in population growth around 1.2% per year.

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As you can see on this slide,

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Texas has almost 57,000 bridges,

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which includes both on and off system.

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This is the largest bridge inventory

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of any state in the nation,

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and more than double the size

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of the next largest state's inventory.

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Our bridge inventory exceeds the combined total

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of the 18 states with the fewest bridges.

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So really I think we're in a league of our own

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when it comes to, again,

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the number of bridges that we maintain. All of these bridges in Texas are

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inspected on a two-year cycle unless they need more attention which

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translates to our bridge division overseeing approximately 28,500 routine

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00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:40,180
inspections per year and again that's on and off system. Texas also performs

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00:25:40,180 --> 00:25:44,200
inspections in the off years with our maintenance forces so an inspection of

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some sort is happening every year on our bridges and the inventory is

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growing. On average we build approximately 500 new bridges every year and replace about 225 bridges

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per year that's an average over the last five years. Regarding our pavements which is also shown

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on this slide, we currently have over 200,000 on-system lane miles and all those lane miles

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require maintenance at some point along with the roadside. To support our pavement performance

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each mile of the statewide pavement network is rated once per year.

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In addition to pavement condition, we also collect other data on our pavements.

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An example would be skid data, which could be best thought of as the grip between your tires and the road.

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Over the last 20 years, reported lane miles increased by an average of 555 lane miles per year.

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I do want to note that that average jumps up to about 700 miles of new lane miles per year

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if you just look at the data over the last five years.

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So not only do we have the largest infrastructure

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of assets in the nation to maintain,

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our inventory continues to grow

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as do the demands on our system.

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It really is a tremendous responsibility.

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Keeping all these assets in a state of good repair translates

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to safer roads and money saved.

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It's much more expensive to replace an asset

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than it is to maintain and repair that asset.

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So we as a department are very proud of these pavements

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and bridge programs.

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In the tech.employees who oversee them,

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which does include the work of all 25

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district statewide and division staff.

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I think this is a great example of how we deliver

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on tech stats goals of preservation, safety,

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and being good stewards of taxpayer resources.

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So with that, I'm going to turn the presentation

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00:27:24,980 --> 00:27:26,800
over to first Jamie Ferris, who is our

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00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,020
Bridge Division Director, and then she'll turn it

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over to James Stevenson, our Maintenance Division

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00:27:30,820 --> 00:27:32,240
Director, to provide a little bit more

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information on these programs.

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All

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00:27:37,950 --> 00:27:39,710
right, thank you, Jessica, and good morning.

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Thank you for your time today to discuss

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00:27:42,230 --> 00:27:44,510
some highlights of our robust bridge program.

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Alright, this first slide shows Texas Bridge Condition Store starting in 2010.

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00:27:54,460 --> 00:27:59,160
The Bridge Condition Score provides a comprehensive measure of our overall physical health of

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00:27:59,160 --> 00:27:59,720
Texas bridges.

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00:28:00,700 --> 00:28:05,340
The score is an average of each bridge's condition rating weighted by the deck area.

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The target BCS is 90 by the year 2035.

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00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,300
And Texas has made significant progress over the last four years.

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And as you can see, if you look at 2022, we were at 88.86, and in the last four years,

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00:28:22,100 --> 00:28:23,340
our BCS has increased.

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00:28:24,180 --> 00:28:30,520
As of April 2026, we are at a BCS of 89.45, so we are on the right track.

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00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,940
This next graph depicts the percent poor bridge trends over the last 15 years.

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00:28:37,940 --> 00:28:48,640
Texas continues to maintain one of the lowest percentages of poor bridge deck area nationally with less than 1% of our bridge inventory and poor condition.

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00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:56,840
And again, if you look at the year 2022, which is along the bottom, we were at 1.31%.

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00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:05,220
And from then we have been decreasing our percentage poor, which means we are trending in the right direction.

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00:29:05,220 --> 00:29:12,940
And as of April 2026, we were at, or as of March 2026, we were at 0.84%.

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00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:21,670
So Text.Launched, our four-year bridge program plan in 2022, and it has made a significant

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00:29:21,670 --> 00:29:22,190
difference.

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00:29:23,190 --> 00:29:27,910
The goal of the program is for districts to develop a specific bridge program plan

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00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:35,390
to ensure that off-system bridges and poor, on-system bridges and poor, on and off-system

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00:29:35,390 --> 00:29:41,170
and bridges in poor condition are reduced and good and fair condition bridges are maintained.

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00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:48,580
The plans are fiscally constrained, which means that they are tied to a forecasted budget.

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00:29:49,940 --> 00:29:56,220
So the districts present their plan to myself, district engineers, and our Bridge Division

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00:29:56,220 --> 00:29:59,760
and deputy director, a SOA panel, and they're evaluated

412
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:08,580
On bridge condition, programming, safety inspections, and preventative maintenance. After each of

413
00:30:08,580 --> 00:30:15,080
these recommendations and best practices are shared with administration and all the districts.

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00:30:16,540 --> 00:30:24,160
So since 2022, this program has brought more focus to the importance of bridge asset management

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00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:31,040
data-driven decisions. The picture on the right shows a San Antonio Bridge maintenance

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00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,240
crew working on a joint.

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00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,060
So this is just a snapshot of some of the best practices that

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00:30:40,060 --> 00:30:45,440
came out of those four-year bridge plan meetings. So the first best practice that's listed

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00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:50,760
is leveraging our dashboards and the data analytics. And this involves using dashboards

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00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:57,500
regularly, but also using data to understand trends, to guide resource planning and allocation.

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00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:03,740
So having also having a formal preventative maintenance plan for all bridges that includes

422
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,820
the bridge type, the frequency of maintenance cycles and funding.

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00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:14,800
And another key best practice is performing in-house special inspections after any work

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00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:19,960
is done on a bridge, and this validates the improvement, but also documents any new

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00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:25,200
field conditions and then next using a combination of contractors and state

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00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:30,400
forces for maintaining our bridge assets because sometimes state forces get the

427
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:36,220
work done quicker and at a much lower cost and then lastly prioritizing work on

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00:31:36,220 --> 00:31:40,540
bridges that recently dropped from good or fair condition to slow the

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00:31:40,540 --> 00:31:46,200
deterioration and improve cost effectiveness and so this is using the

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00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:50,240
data to be strategic and economical about taking care of our bridges.

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00:31:52,180 --> 00:31:58,200
And so my last slide goes over some bridge innovations that focus on bridge asset management.

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00:31:59,060 --> 00:32:03,620
So at the top, the Tableau dashboards that we use to track bridge maintenance in real

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00:32:03,620 --> 00:32:03,960
time.

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00:32:04,620 --> 00:32:09,480
And next, we use asset management software to forecast bridge deterioration.

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00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:16,600
And it uses historical bridge data and deterioration models that are specific to Texas to identify

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00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,880
bridge treatment timelines from an economical perspective.

437
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:26,200
Over the last couple of years, we've started using non-destructive scanning techniques for

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00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,720
our bridge decks and unknown bridge foundations.

439
00:32:30,580 --> 00:32:35,560
We also use drones for some bridge assessments when it's hard to get to a specific area

440
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:36,300
on the bridge.

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00:32:36,300 --> 00:32:48,820
The picture on the right shows the drone footage picture from the U.S. 90 Pekas River High Bridge, which is 273 feet above water.

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00:32:50,540 --> 00:32:56,980
Another innovation we use is remote sensing on select bridges known to have reoccurring bridge strikes.

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00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:05,320
And then lastly, digital delivery and digital twins. As we progress these technologies, we'll start using them more for asset management.

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00:33:05,860 --> 00:33:12,800
And now I'll turn the presentation over to my colleague James Stevenson, Director of Maintenance

445
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:15,700
Division, to provide an update on the pavement program.

446
00:33:20,510 --> 00:33:21,050
Thank you, Jamie.

447
00:33:22,250 --> 00:33:23,150
Good morning, commissioners.

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00:33:23,570 --> 00:33:27,230
I will be providing a presentation about the textile pavement program.

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00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,900
This slide shows the pavement condition from 2001 to 2025.

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00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:38,180
The 2001 date is important because that is the date that the commission set the goal

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00:33:38,180 --> 00:33:41,380
of textile pavements to be 90% good or better condition.

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00:33:42,860 --> 00:33:47,640
I will discuss the adjustment we made to address the downward trend that's shown there in between

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00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:49,160
2005 and 2009.

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00:33:49,900 --> 00:33:54,980
The downturn you see in the 2011 to 2012 timeframe was due to rapid growth in the

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00:33:54,980 --> 00:33:58,680
energy sector, including the Eagleford Shale and the Permian Basin.

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00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:04,400
The 2017 drop was the first year that we did automated pavement data collection,

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00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:09,120
which greatly improved the amount of information we had on distresses and ride for our pavements.

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00:34:11,770 --> 00:34:16,790
So, TEXOT launched the four-year pavement management process in 2008. The goal was to

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00:34:16,790 --> 00:34:21,970
empower districts to develop comprehensive, road-specific, and fissile-constrained plans

460
00:34:21,970 --> 00:34:27,370
for our pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. Over time, districts have adopted this as

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00:34:27,370 --> 00:34:33,630
a standard operating procedure, beginning the planning process in each year around August

462
00:34:33,630 --> 00:34:34,150
or September.

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00:34:34,990 --> 00:34:39,730
The structured approach has played a critical role in driving our success and aligning statewide

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00:34:39,730 --> 00:34:41,530
efforts towards pavement-conditioned goals.

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00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:49,140
Texas's model when it comes to statewide pavement management is keep good roads good

466
00:34:49,140 --> 00:34:50,900
and reduce poor road lane miles.

467
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,600
We do this by utilizing both in-house employees and contractors.

468
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,280
This helps combat labor issues and knowledge loss.

469
00:35:01,020 --> 00:35:04,260
We also take a balanced approach to how individual projects are handled.

470
00:35:04,260 --> 00:35:07,780
The goals listed are reported to the Legislative Budget Board.

471
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:10,880
We have exceeded these goals the last three years.

472
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:16,120
This is a primary driver to meeting the commission goal of 90% good or better payment conditions.

473
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:24,440
Portable way in motion, or portable WIM, and Wavetronics are both game-changing technologies

474
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:29,680
used to give our districts better information to design longer-lasting and better-performing payments.

475
00:35:30,580 --> 00:35:33,840
The portable WIM system records and classifies vehicle traffic data

476
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:39,560
The sensor is installed on the pavement surface that does not include trenching.

477
00:35:40,700 --> 00:35:45,260
Installation takes about 40 minutes per lane and data is collected about 7 to 21 days.

478
00:35:46,100 --> 00:35:49,860
The Wavetronic system uses radar to count and classify vehicles.

479
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:55,620
System accuracy are greater than 90% for both portable WIM and Wavetronics when properly

480
00:35:55,620 --> 00:35:57,080
installed and well calibrated.

481
00:35:58,500 --> 00:36:02,140
This is the summary of installations on the map there completed to date.

482
00:36:02,140 --> 00:36:07,040
All 25 districts have been covered with a minimum of three highway installations per district.

483
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:13,200
140 counties out of 254 in Texas have had these installations.

484
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:18,780
359 highways and 920 lanes have been measured since we began this process.

485
00:36:21,730 --> 00:36:24,630
Other innovations that have led to TechSOT's successful pavement program

486
00:36:24,630 --> 00:36:29,030
are the automated statewide pavement data collection, the maintenance peer review process,

487
00:36:29,030 --> 00:36:33,910
process, improve payment design through portable WIM and Wavetronics data, and improve payment

488
00:36:33,910 --> 00:36:34,710
design software.

489
00:36:35,750 --> 00:36:40,330
The recent use of payment data provided by the Traffic Speed Deflectometer technology,

490
00:36:40,970 --> 00:36:45,470
and finally targeted research and innovation including advanced sensing, modeling, and

491
00:36:45,470 --> 00:36:49,290
AI to improve distress, detection, and preservation decision making.

492
00:36:50,070 --> 00:36:54,150
Many of these innovations have been done in conjunction with Texas universities and

493
00:36:54,150 --> 00:36:56,530
organizations like TTI and CTR.

494
00:36:57,330 --> 00:37:00,130
With that, I will turn the presentation back over to Jessica.

495
00:37:03,450 --> 00:37:04,590
Thank you, James, and Jamie.

496
00:37:05,950 --> 00:37:09,450
So as you can see, commissioners, despite the size and demands of our system,

497
00:37:09,550 --> 00:37:12,290
we've taken a performance-based approach to how we're managing

498
00:37:12,290 --> 00:37:15,990
our bridge and pavement programs statewide using dashboards

499
00:37:15,990 --> 00:37:18,730
and very data-driven decisions, as well as four-year plans

500
00:37:18,730 --> 00:37:22,830
and technology and innovation to help achieve significant results.

501
00:37:23,130 --> 00:37:26,130
The highest performance outcomes we've seen historically in these areas,

502
00:37:26,130 --> 00:37:30,790
we really appreciate the opportunity to be able to share this update with you

503
00:37:30,790 --> 00:37:35,270
this morning and all three of us will be here to answer any questions or receive

504
00:37:35,270 --> 00:37:36,370
any comments that you have.

505
00:37:39,250 --> 00:37:41,570
Commissioners are there any remarks or questions for

506
00:37:41,570 --> 00:37:42,050
this team?

507
00:37:44,210 --> 00:37:47,870
Okay Commissioner Vaughn. Okay quick question.

508
00:37:50,390 --> 00:37:51,310
We met with an

509
00:37:51,310 --> 00:38:04,550
individual yesterday. He was an artist and he said that he could tell whether he was

510
00:38:04,550 --> 00:38:12,230
in Texas or not by the sound of driving on the pavement. I believe it. He said

511
00:38:12,230 --> 00:38:17,490
when you're in Texas you know you're on Texas roads. That's right. Anyway these

512
00:38:17,490 --> 00:38:23,950
policies and procedures that you all went over, do we share this with metropolitan areas?

513
00:38:24,570 --> 00:38:33,910
I mean, you know, at least in Dallas, the worst roads are city-owned because there's

514
00:38:33,910 --> 00:38:35,790
so many potholes, et cetera, et cetera.

515
00:38:36,470 --> 00:38:44,950
And is there much interaction between our districts and at least the large municipalities

516
00:38:44,950 --> 00:38:46,910
that could benefit from things that we do?

517
00:38:46,910 --> 00:38:54,230
So I'll say everything that we presented today from both the bridge side and the pavement side are statewide practices, right?

518
00:38:54,350 --> 00:38:58,630
So they apply statewide, but the pavement side is focused on on system

519
00:38:58,630 --> 00:39:01,790
So I don't know if there's anything you want to add to that about off-system routes

520
00:39:01,790 --> 00:39:06,370
At least on the pavement side because we do have work on off-system bridges there

521
00:39:06,370 --> 00:39:09,610
So that was included in the presentation, but the pavements are a little different

522
00:39:10,790 --> 00:39:13,970
So for some of the reporting that we do to FHWA

523
00:39:13,970 --> 00:39:18,830
way, we do actually do the same automated measurements on a lot of our off system payments,

524
00:39:18,890 --> 00:39:22,730
especially in the metro areas, because they're on what's called the NHS, the National Highway

525
00:39:22,730 --> 00:39:30,650
System. So we have to measure them for submittals to FHWA. So those cities and local municipalities

526
00:39:30,650 --> 00:39:35,970
get that information from us. My staff is also in the past provided training to

527
00:39:37,230 --> 00:39:43,730
metro MPOs and metro areas on our processes and the way we do things so yes

528
00:39:43,730 --> 00:39:47,870
all this information is publicly available and we are open to any invites

529
00:39:47,870 --> 00:39:51,010
to share this information thank you very much yes sir

530
00:39:53,060 --> 00:39:54,900
questions from any other

531
00:39:54,900 --> 00:40:03,120
commissioners okay I have a couple would you just go back to slide 28 okay

532
00:40:09,710 --> 00:40:31,430
Okay. So you've been referencing on and off system public meetings. I like definitions for anyone that's not familiar with our terminology. So on and off system on system are the roadways that we maintain here at the DOT. They're considered our roadways versus off system are sort of the city and county streets that they

533
00:40:31,430 --> 00:40:36,850
maintain so on and off system okay and why do our bridge people handle off

534
00:40:36,850 --> 00:40:45,970
system bridges so through our category six funding which is for bridge

535
00:40:45,970 --> 00:40:51,730
rehabilitation and replacement we do set aside funding for off system bridges

536
00:40:51,730 --> 00:40:58,830
they have to contribute some to that dollar amount but we have a program set

537
00:40:58,830 --> 00:41:02,150
to help the local governments.

538
00:41:02,890 --> 00:41:05,330
So some of them probably have the capability

539
00:41:05,330 --> 00:41:08,510
of some of the expertise, but some of them really don't, right?

540
00:41:08,750 --> 00:41:10,210
So it's pretty important on bridges

541
00:41:10,210 --> 00:41:13,630
that we have the ability to collaborate

542
00:41:13,630 --> 00:41:16,390
and help them with the off-system bridges.

543
00:41:16,910 --> 00:41:19,170
So a county may own it, a city may own it,

544
00:41:19,590 --> 00:41:20,710
that kind of thing, correct?

545
00:41:21,010 --> 00:41:21,370
Correct.

546
00:41:21,970 --> 00:41:23,050
On and off system.

547
00:41:23,310 --> 00:41:24,190
What's a lane mile?

548
00:41:28,310 --> 00:41:30,810
So lane miles literally is just a lane mile of pavement.

549
00:41:30,810 --> 00:41:40,870
So, we measure usually in two traditional ways, we do center lane miles, which is just it doesn't matter how many lanes there are, it's just one mile of the stretch of roadway.

550
00:41:41,370 --> 00:41:49,350
The lane miles are breakdown of individual lane miles. So, a center lane mile, like I say, on a six lane divided highway would be have six lane miles of pavement.

551
00:41:50,290 --> 00:42:00,210
That's what I wanted to make sure you talk about. So, you know, if you're on a three lanes on an interstate, it's one, two, three times a mile, three lane miles.

552
00:42:00,210 --> 00:42:00,750
Yes, sir.

553
00:42:01,030 --> 00:42:01,410
Yes, sir.

554
00:42:01,810 --> 00:42:02,150
Okay.

555
00:42:02,770 --> 00:42:05,010
Would we go to 30 and 31, please?

556
00:42:09,230 --> 00:42:11,550
Did you go back to that photo just momentarily?

557
00:42:11,990 --> 00:42:20,650
There's your 273 foot above water bridge on US 90 down by Comstock and Del Rio, so anyway.

558
00:42:22,090 --> 00:42:22,530
Okay.

559
00:42:22,970 --> 00:42:27,190
I just want to point out quickly, we mostly want things to go up and to the right, right?

560
00:42:27,690 --> 00:42:32,410
And so you see the line up there and you see that she has the, this is Director

561
00:42:33,050 --> 00:42:35,990
You know, they're headed up and to the right, everything's looking good.

562
00:42:36,230 --> 00:42:37,970
And then you go to the next one.

563
00:42:38,630 --> 00:42:41,330
I don't want you to look at that and think things are going badly.

564
00:42:42,090 --> 00:42:47,390
Because in this case, we want things to go to the right and lower.

565
00:42:47,770 --> 00:42:50,070
So this one looks abnormal.

566
00:42:50,450 --> 00:42:53,670
I think if you just glance at it, you think, what's going wrong?

567
00:42:54,190 --> 00:42:55,550
But things are going right.

568
00:42:55,970 --> 00:43:00,750
So she's getting less and less poor bridge deck trends.

569
00:43:00,750 --> 00:43:07,930
She's down to 0.87, 0.89, 0.84 with her team and all the folks in maintenance and so wanted

570
00:43:07,930 --> 00:43:11,490
to just talk about that very quickly and then I want to go to 39.

571
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:25,000
This is, I don't mean to poke at anybody, but it's always fun when you have engineers

572
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:30,220
doing presentations, it's like, wasn't this fun?

573
00:43:30,340 --> 00:43:32,960
This is really doing well is not how they talk.

574
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:40,980
and this is really doing well okay this is a big deal the before this we had way

575
00:43:40,980 --> 00:43:47,340
in motion not portable but weight in motion devices they were built into the

576
00:43:47,340 --> 00:43:51,760
highway so every time you reconstructed or did maintenance on the highway you

577
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:55,980
could tear up that weight in motion device and so they were out of order as

578
00:43:55,980 --> 00:44:01,820
much as they were in order and also because they're built into it truck

579
00:44:01,820 --> 00:44:06,240
traffic and things like that could could overwhelm them over time. This is getting

580
00:44:06,240 --> 00:44:11,100
that off of the highway, putting it beside the highway for a fraction of the

581
00:44:11,100 --> 00:44:16,880
cost. Okay, so this is using technology to do something really important. The

582
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:23,800
reason it's been done in 140 out of 254 counties. Okay, the reason it's been

583
00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:27,660
done is because they're gaining confidence in this and understanding it.

584
00:44:27,660 --> 00:44:35,480
Wavetronics is even more portable and quicker to use and inexpensive and it is

585
00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:42,400
now rating somewhere around 92 93 percent as accurate as the weight in

586
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:46,280
motion device so they're now what they're doing is they're learning that

587
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:52,660
that 36 percent of the traffic is trucks before they do the maintenance so

588
00:44:52,660 --> 00:44:59,700
that they can build a road or rebuild a road to meet the actual usage on that road.

589
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:06,040
So, this is really fun stuff. I knew you meant it that way, right, James? Okay, well anyway,

590
00:45:06,300 --> 00:45:11,720
that's really fun stuff. Yes sir. Outstanding. Okay, so I want to spend a little time on that

591
00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:15,680
to tell you that we've moved away from some things that aren't working to things that

592
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:21,740
are less expensive, more portable, and can do the work and allow us to build better roads

593
00:45:21,740 --> 00:45:28,160
and rebuild roads in a better way. Really cool stuff. Okay, yeah. Outstanding, that

594
00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:28,860
That was my stuff.

595
00:45:29,300 --> 00:45:30,200
Thank you very much.

596
00:45:30,260 --> 00:45:31,180
I appreciate you guys.

597
00:45:31,500 --> 00:45:34,040
And this is a celebration of good things.

598
00:45:34,240 --> 00:45:39,560
And so thank you for everybody on your teams and in the maintenance world out there for

599
00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:41,080
hitting these kinds of results.

600
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:41,540
Okay?

601
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:42,000
Thank you.

602
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:43,420
Good job.

603
00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:49,040
Thank you to Jessica Jamie and James, the three Js, triple Js there.

604
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:55,400
But you know, really wanted to thank you all for allowing us to really just highlight

605
00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:58,280
the tremendous work that goes into it.

606
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:02,700
It's a combination of skill, strategy,

607
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:05,360
and also science as well.

608
00:46:05,900 --> 00:46:08,140
And when you talk about the technology,

609
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,920
over the coming months, we're going to be talking about

610
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:14,840
our legislative appropriation request and the investments

611
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:16,840
that we need to improve technology.

612
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:18,560
And when we invest in that technology,

613
00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:21,980
we begin to see some real trade-offs in that area.

614
00:46:22,100 --> 00:46:23,400
And so that's very important.

615
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:25,280
and I appreciate you all letting us out like that.

616
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,920
Quick timeline, when I came on this commission in 2018,

617
00:46:29,340 --> 00:46:33,420
there were zero wave tronics, zero portable weight

618
00:46:33,420 --> 00:46:35,140
in motion devices.

619
00:46:35,700 --> 00:46:39,880
And then some eight years and eight and a half years later,

620
00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:41,900
it's very important to our process.

621
00:46:42,100 --> 00:46:46,200
It's just really nice and neat to see us adapt and evolve

622
00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:47,600
and get better at what we do.

623
00:46:49,340 --> 00:46:51,520
Thank you, Chairman and Commissioners.

624
00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:57,260
And as we're needing to adapt and evolve, it brings us to item 5B, which is an update

625
00:46:57,260 --> 00:47:02,700
on Texas' population growth and its impact on our transportation system and our transportation

626
00:47:02,700 --> 00:47:04,900
planning and program delivery.

627
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:10,300
Deputy Executive Director Brian Barth is here to kick this presentation off.

628
00:47:11,240 --> 00:47:12,460
So thank you.

629
00:47:12,820 --> 00:47:16,040
I assure you I'm not going to be another engineer doing the presentation.

630
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,540
I'm going to get somebody that does a really good job.

631
00:47:19,140 --> 00:47:24,080
So, we do a population trends update every year.

632
00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:30,100
We like to do it in the middle of our UTP cycle to inform us

633
00:47:30,100 --> 00:47:32,400
on project selections and that kind of thing.

634
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:36,000
It's not the only thing we use, but it's a big factor

635
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:39,480
in what we use to inform us on project selection.

636
00:47:39,860 --> 00:47:45,060
So, you all probably remember Dr. Potter has been doing

637
00:47:45,060 --> 00:47:46,960
these things for us for a number of years.

638
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:55,020
He has retired and so we're glad to have the new state demographer Dr. Helen Yu to come

639
00:47:55,020 --> 00:47:56,820
and give us these population trends.

640
00:47:57,140 --> 00:47:58,080
So it's all yours.

641
00:47:58,880 --> 00:47:59,420
Thank you.

642
00:48:01,330 --> 00:48:02,810
Thank you for the introduction.

643
00:48:03,470 --> 00:48:04,630
My name is Helen Yu.

644
00:48:05,090 --> 00:48:10,550
I'm the interim director of the Texas Demographic Center at UT Centennial.

645
00:48:10,990 --> 00:48:15,150
We're now the third largest university in the state after merger.

646
00:48:15,150 --> 00:48:25,390
So, today I'm going to provide an update on the most recent population trend in Texas.

647
00:48:26,330 --> 00:48:27,590
Can we pull this slide?

648
00:48:28,110 --> 00:48:30,330
Oh, I do.

649
00:48:32,620 --> 00:48:32,820
Okay.

650
00:48:33,460 --> 00:48:38,600
So, let me start with the state estimates as of July 2025.

651
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:45,060
According to the Census Bureau, we have a population of about 31.7 million.

652
00:48:45,060 --> 00:48:53,800
This is an increase of about 391K from the year before and 1.2% increase.

653
00:48:55,100 --> 00:49:01,800
These are slower than usual years we have, but compared to the nation,

654
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:07,900
which had only about 0.5% of increase, we doubled the growth rate of the nation.

655
00:49:08,620 --> 00:49:15,160
Across the nation, despite the slow growth rate, only five states have lost population

656
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:24,080
during the same period, California on the list, again, Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont, and

657
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:30,400
West Virginia, depicted in the dark colors, no, lighter colors in the map.

658
00:49:31,060 --> 00:49:34,020
On the other end of the spectrum are the gross states.

659
00:49:34,020 --> 00:49:41,960
the map shows the states was the fastest growth rate, Texas was among them, and

660
00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:49,000
also the only the biggest state at the other states are all smaller

661
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:56,420
states. In terms of numeric growth we again top the chart was the biggest

662
00:49:56,420 --> 00:50:01,060
numeric gain during the period. Other states include Florida, North Carolina,

663
00:50:01,060 --> 00:50:07,840
Georgia and South Carolina, right? And so this is a chart that breaks down the

664
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:14,500
daily population change average and then also the components of those change. We

665
00:50:14,500 --> 00:50:21,400
had a down year in COVID the lowest year with less than 1,000 change in

666
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:29,660
population and but we had the peak there in 2024 with more than 1600 growth

667
00:50:29,660 --> 00:50:35,860
daily of population. Breaking it down into three components starting from the

668
00:50:35,860 --> 00:50:42,080
blue ones on the bottom. Those are natural increase which is my birth minus

669
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:48,870
death. Of course we hit the low during COVID but we came back after COVID and

670
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:56,960
now natural increase in 2020 between 2024 and 2025 accounted for about 40

671
00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:02,720
percent of the growth, the last part there. Going up are the two migration

672
00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:07,440
components. Orange is the net domestic migration, green net international

673
00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:14,340
migration. Net domestic migration has been very strong, however in the last two

674
00:51:14,340 --> 00:51:21,240
years we have seen them being decreased almost by half from previous year. So

675
00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:26,360
very low in domestic migration that something will keep monitoring. The

676
00:51:26,360 --> 00:51:31,300
international migration probably you have heard this and it's not surprising during COVID was

677
00:51:31,300 --> 00:51:37,880
very low but then we had three about three years of surge in immigration especially between 2023

678
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:48,360
and 2024 but however between July 2024 and July 2025 we had half year of fast increase or a large

679
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:54,700
number of inflow but then half year of very of declined immigration so that's what's it's

680
00:51:54,700 --> 00:52:02,100
here. All right, across the state, this is the estimates of all the counties. You know,

681
00:52:02,140 --> 00:52:07,120
many people here are familiar with the map. Again, the population is concentrated in the triangle

682
00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:17,020
and along the Corridor, 35 Corridor, the 112 counties own that I-35, an east of I-35,

683
00:52:17,020 --> 00:52:26,940
now reside 27.3 million of Texas population and account for 87.3%. It's

684
00:52:26,940 --> 00:52:34,300
been increasing even in 2020. It was about little over 87%, but now it has

685
00:52:34,300 --> 00:52:42,100
increased by 2 percentage point even in the last five years. Okay and then the

686
00:52:42,100 --> 00:52:46,820
The next one shows you the change, a numeric population change.

687
00:52:48,140 --> 00:52:58,520
Despite our high, or fast growth, 108 Texas counties have lost population, mostly in West

688
00:52:58,520 --> 00:53:00,120
Texas, in rural Texas.

689
00:53:01,460 --> 00:53:08,880
And again, not surprisingly, the growth continued the trend, concentrated in the triangle areas

690
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:11,980
and part of the Permian Basin in West Texas.

691
00:53:13,420 --> 00:53:17,760
Something stood out this year is Dallas up there,

692
00:53:18,540 --> 00:53:22,040
in red or orange.

693
00:53:22,300 --> 00:53:27,600
It has lost population mainly because of the decline in international migration.

694
00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:32,400
And this is just the table of that map. It's a busy table

695
00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:36,260
because I've included population estimates, growth,

696
00:53:36,260 --> 00:53:40,400
its rank in the nation and more importantly the components of change

697
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:46,280
contribution from that three components there. So I just want to highlight a few

698
00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:51,540
things you know most of these counties are big counties except for Dallas. Dallas

699
00:53:51,540 --> 00:53:59,020
is not on the list and among the top ten nationwide counties with

700
00:53:59,020 --> 00:54:04,880
numeric change big numeric change we had six and also if you look to the

701
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:11,060
To the right, I want to highlight the column on the right-hand side here, change from domestic

702
00:54:11,060 --> 00:54:11,780
migration.

703
00:54:12,440 --> 00:54:19,160
Most of these counties, or big counties, but their growth come from things other than domestic

704
00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:19,880
migration.

705
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:25,280
In fact, many of these counties have seen negative domestic migration.

706
00:54:25,660 --> 00:54:33,820
For example, Harris County, Tarrant, Travis, Hildelgo, and Bear County, you know, it's

707
00:54:33,820 --> 00:54:34,640
not seeing a lot.

708
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:39,920
It's still positive, but we're not seeing lots of in domestic migration lots of these

709
00:54:40,820 --> 00:54:41,560
net

710
00:54:42,500 --> 00:54:48,360
Negative migration was due to the out migration to the surrounding counties as we can see here

711
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:50,220
This is a different picture

712
00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:53,280
percent population change here

713
00:54:53,800 --> 00:55:00,060
Many of the smaller medium-sized counties emerge as the fastest growing counties

714
00:55:00,060 --> 00:55:07,420
Most of them are on the outer edge on the outside or outer edge of the major

715
00:55:07,420 --> 00:55:13,900
metropolitan statistical areas in the Triangle area. Again nothing really new

716
00:55:13,900 --> 00:55:20,760
suburban rain counties but we do see some of expansions to to further our

717
00:55:20,760 --> 00:55:26,600
counties further away from the center. Okay and again this is the table showing

718
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:34,680
that. Similar tables than before. I want to highlight the number one county with the fastest

719
00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:44,420
growth is Waller. This is nationwide. Waller County which is west of the Houston area.

720
00:55:45,580 --> 00:55:51,620
So with the growth rate of 6%, the other thing I want to point out is among the top

721
00:55:51,620 --> 00:55:58,160
10, we have six there, six counties there in Texas, and also among all these counties

722
00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:06,160
almost all their growth, or majority of their growth, can be attributable to domestic migration

723
00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:11,860
and in many cases, domestic migration from the central big counties.

724
00:56:13,540 --> 00:56:17,280
So this one highlights the domestic migration pattern.

725
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:25,300
We use this one uses the five-year average to remove some of the volatility we have from year to year.

726
00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:35,580
On this map, 99 counties, most of them again, almost all of them West Texas and then some rural counties in these Texas.

727
00:56:36,300 --> 00:56:43,260
99 counties have lost migrants to other counties, either in the state or other counties in the nation.

728
00:56:43,260 --> 00:56:51,380
The Texas Triangle is where you see, and East Texas is where you see positive net migration

729
00:56:51,380 --> 00:56:57,340
in, and the Triangle areas in suburban areas are the areas where people move to.

730
00:56:58,300 --> 00:57:08,380
What also stand out is the hollow or sometimes red in the center of those Triangle areas.

731
00:57:08,380 --> 00:57:14,080
areas. So basically, as I often say, this is like two tiles of one state, right? You have

732
00:57:14,080 --> 00:57:20,040
West Texas where people are still moving in into the metropolitan statistical areas. However,

733
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:26,420
in East Texas, it's the suburban ring, and sometimes even rural counties surrounding

734
00:57:26,420 --> 00:57:31,540
the central counties that are getting people moving out there.

735
00:57:33,020 --> 00:57:40,940
And another trend I wanted to highlight and by now probably it's not new to many people.

736
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:44,840
So we have seen a decline in fertility trend.

737
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:53,820
This trend is expressed by the birth per 1,000 women childbearing age 15 to 44.

738
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:59,460
There are other ways to express that, but this is where we can see also the trend broken

739
00:57:59,460 --> 00:58:06,520
down by race ethnicity. Hispanics continue to have the highest fertility although they seem to be

740
00:58:06,520 --> 00:58:12,080
converging to the other race ethnicity. The other thing people have always have been wondering is

741
00:58:12,080 --> 00:58:19,200
you know we saw like almost the lowest point during COVID. We did see some tick up after COVID

742
00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:27,280
as I can I marked there in the dashed line after 2020 we saw some tick up many wonder hey are

743
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:30,180
are we going back to our high fertility state?

744
00:58:30,820 --> 00:58:34,560
Unfortunately, 2024, we began to see the declining trend again.

745
00:58:35,240 --> 00:58:37,980
There are questions about whether there

746
00:58:37,980 --> 00:58:41,180
are some artifacts like data on the estimated denominators.

747
00:58:41,820 --> 00:58:44,480
But one thing is clear that we're probably not

748
00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:46,560
going back to a high fertility level.

749
00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:50,120
We're going to stay there in the low fertility level

750
00:58:50,120 --> 00:58:50,880
for a while.

751
00:58:52,720 --> 00:58:53,020
OK.

752
00:58:53,640 --> 00:58:56,360
And this is another end goal to look at growth.

753
00:58:56,360 --> 00:59:03,600
This one shows you the percent of housing built after 2020, the new housings that

754
00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:10,380
have been built. And it coincides with where you see growth, right? New

755
00:59:10,380 --> 00:59:17,420
housings are more predominant in areas with high growth around the triangle. I

756
00:59:17,420 --> 00:59:22,220
feel like I have said that many times. The suburban rains are surrounding the

757
00:59:22,220 --> 00:59:29,600
triangle metro areas and and also you know occasionally some of the the

758
00:59:29,600 --> 00:59:36,020
metropolitan areas in the West rural counties show very limited recent

759
00:59:36,020 --> 00:59:44,160
construction. And then let me move on to the future. This is our latest

760
00:59:44,160 --> 00:59:49,280
population projections. We renew our population projections every other year

761
00:59:49,280 --> 00:59:56,960
According to our latest projection, we project that the state population to be 42.6 million

762
00:59:56,960 --> 00:59:59,780
under the medium migration.

763
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:05,560
Immigration scenario by 2060, which is the orange line. Compared to the dash line, which

764
01:00:05,560 --> 01:00:14,460
was our previous vintage, we adjusted the trend down again, mainly because of the declining

765
01:00:14,460 --> 01:00:26,320
trend of fertility. We also provide two other scenarios, all connected to the national projections

766
01:00:26,320 --> 01:00:31,540
with high and low immigration scenarios, right?

767
01:00:31,640 --> 01:00:33,440
Moving on, this is how we project

768
01:00:33,440 --> 01:00:34,740
the three components of change.

769
01:00:35,480 --> 01:00:39,560
We kind of have kept the migration components

770
01:00:39,560 --> 01:00:42,600
relatively constant with a little bit of growth.

771
01:00:43,420 --> 01:00:47,120
However, we did project the fertility

772
01:00:47,120 --> 01:00:49,540
to continue to stay at the lower level

773
01:00:50,240 --> 01:00:52,520
and because of the aging of the population,

774
01:00:52,520 --> 01:00:59,680
there will be more deaths occurring in the near future, so at some point in the projection horizon

775
01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:11,200
we may see natural decline sometime in the horizon there. And across the county, this is again not

776
01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:16,980
new patterns. We project that there will be more counties losing population in the future,

777
01:01:16,980 --> 01:01:26,660
139 of them. Some of the facts or things I want to highlight, by current MSA definition,

778
01:01:27,160 --> 01:01:36,680
99% of the state's growth will be there, will occur in those counties. And the four MSAs there

779
01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:46,000
in green shades, not counting all the 120, but just the four MSAs, their share will grow from

780
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:52,880
the current 67% to 74% by the end of 2060.

781
01:01:54,020 --> 01:01:58,140
Okay, so, and then this is the percent change.

782
01:01:58,660 --> 01:02:03,420
Again, what emerged will be the suburban rain counties

783
01:02:03,420 --> 01:02:06,080
and West Texas, the Permian Basin,

784
01:02:06,320 --> 01:02:12,840
if the oil industry grow or thrive as in the last decade.

785
01:02:12,840 --> 01:02:19,980
So that area is less predictable than other areas of the state, understandably.

786
01:02:20,500 --> 01:02:28,060
Okay, with that I'm going to conclude and I want to thank the leadership, thank the planning branch

787
01:02:28,060 --> 01:02:34,320
who has been working with us for many, many years, and I want to echo what was said earlier

788
01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:39,840
with our collaborations, with us combining our strengths together.

789
01:02:39,840 --> 01:02:43,520
we can do great works here. Thank you very much.

790
01:02:51,490 --> 01:02:54,530
Commissioner, are there any remarks or questions for Dr. Hughes?

791
01:02:57,420 --> 01:02:59,580
One quick remark.

792
01:03:01,800 --> 01:03:06,040
If you could go back to your second slide, or the first slide after the

793
01:03:06,040 --> 01:03:09,940
opening slide. I don't have a question for you, just

794
01:03:09,940 --> 01:03:11,300
a comment for the public.

795
01:03:13,940 --> 01:03:15,700
The one with the

796
01:03:15,700 --> 01:03:18,960
population increase. Yeah, there you go. So

797
01:03:18,960 --> 01:03:21,380
So, the U.S. population...

798
01:03:21,380 --> 01:03:22,480
No, I'm so sorry.

799
01:03:23,180 --> 01:03:25,040
Let me see the wrong direction.

800
01:03:28,220 --> 01:03:28,900
Here.

801
01:03:29,360 --> 01:03:33,000
So the United States has a current population of 342 million,

802
01:03:33,760 --> 01:03:39,980
and the increase for the nation was 0.5 percent national growth.

803
01:03:40,760 --> 01:03:48,360
So, you know, that is about, actually ran at a million 710,

804
01:03:48,360 --> 01:03:50,040
is what was added to the nation.

805
01:03:50,700 --> 01:03:59,000
So this number 391,000 is 23% of the US population increase.

806
01:03:59,480 --> 01:04:03,320
So that's just to me that underlines the challenge

807
01:04:03,320 --> 01:04:05,860
that we have for transportation and our budgeting

808
01:04:06,390 --> 01:04:07,580
in the state of Texas.

809
01:04:08,340 --> 01:04:09,540
It's an ongoing challenge.

810
01:04:09,840 --> 01:04:11,900
It's a good problem to have.

811
01:04:12,860 --> 01:04:17,060
We would not want to be losing population in the state

812
01:04:17,060 --> 01:04:17,900
for a lot of reasons.

813
01:04:17,900 --> 01:04:26,500
But I just think that, you know, when you realize that Texas is responsible for 23% of the population increase,

814
01:04:26,680 --> 01:04:31,140
it's pretty, you know, pretty interesting.

815
01:04:31,880 --> 01:04:32,960
Thank you. Thank you.

816
01:04:34,300 --> 01:04:37,920
Any other commissioners? Any other questions or statements? Okay.

817
01:04:38,460 --> 01:04:41,920
Dr. Yu, thank you very much for presenting to us and thanks for the information.

818
01:04:42,440 --> 01:04:42,960
And

819
01:04:48,430 --> 01:04:52,850
to underscore that, Commissioner Vaughn, you know, as we're talking about federal funding

820
01:04:52,850 --> 01:04:57,410
and it goes into bridges and maintenance and everything we do, the formula is that Congress

821
01:04:57,410 --> 01:05:02,390
has used to distribute those federal funds have been frozen since 2000, since the early

822
01:05:02,950 --> 01:05:03,210
2000s.

823
01:05:03,510 --> 01:05:08,190
So all of that population growth has not been accounted for.

824
01:05:08,350 --> 01:05:12,730
And I'm just going to leave that right there and not give myself worked up about that

825
01:05:12,730 --> 01:05:19,550
and move on with your permission, Chair Neu, to item six, and this is, item six is going

826
01:05:19,550 --> 01:05:26,490
to be the consideration of, let me make sure I'm on the right one, yes I am, it's consideration

827
01:05:26,490 --> 01:05:29,830
of Federal and State Aviation Awards in Airport Planning and Programming.

828
01:05:29,870 --> 01:05:33,470
Section Director Michael VanVeeliet is here and he will present this item.

829
01:05:33,710 --> 01:05:33,830
Michael?

830
01:05:34,390 --> 01:05:35,570
Good morning and thank you.

831
01:05:36,150 --> 01:05:40,010
This minute order contains a request for grant funding, approval for seven capital

832
01:05:40,010 --> 01:05:46,050
improvement projects. Cities and counties requesting grants, funding sources and amounts requested

833
01:05:46,050 --> 01:05:51,470
are included in exhibit A. A public hearing was held on April 6 and no comments were received.

834
01:05:52,090 --> 01:05:55,310
Staff recommends approval. I will stand by for questions if you have any.

835
01:05:57,870 --> 01:06:04,230
Commissioner, are there any remarks or questions for Section Director Bentley? Seeing none.

836
01:06:07,360 --> 01:06:11,560
May I have a motion to approve the Federal and State Aviation Awards in accordance with

837
01:06:11,560 --> 01:06:12,560
staff's recommendation.

838
01:06:14,960 --> 01:06:18,880
Commissioner Alvis has moved approval. Commissioner Vaughn is

839
01:06:18,880 --> 01:06:22,660
seconded to the motion. Call for the vote. All those in favor?

840
01:06:23,200 --> 01:06:23,400
Aye.

841
01:06:25,440 --> 01:06:29,580
Motion passes unanimously. I wanted you to

842
01:06:29,580 --> 01:06:32,980
note that you were ever bit as efficient as Dan Harmon.

843
01:06:33,340 --> 01:06:35,820
I appreciate that. I will let him know. Thank you.

844
01:06:37,840 --> 01:06:42,180
Next is item seven and this is a consideration of approving a request for grant applications

845
01:06:42,180 --> 01:06:44,420
to construct electric vehicle charging stations

846
01:06:44,420 --> 01:06:47,300
in rural county seats and metropolitan areas,

847
01:06:47,520 --> 01:06:49,800
transportation planning and programming division director

848
01:06:49,800 --> 01:06:53,360
Umberto Tito Gonzalez is here and he will present this item.

849
01:06:53,720 --> 01:06:53,820
Tito.

850
01:06:54,140 --> 01:06:54,580
Thank you.

851
01:06:54,740 --> 01:06:55,360
Good morning Acting Chair,

852
01:06:55,440 --> 01:06:56,940
new commissioners and director Williams.

853
01:06:57,500 --> 01:07:00,160
So before we ask for specific approval on this minute order,

854
01:07:00,340 --> 01:07:03,320
I wanted to give the public and the commission just a reminder

855
01:07:03,320 --> 01:07:04,360
and background on this program.

856
01:07:04,920 --> 01:07:07,900
So in 2021, the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act,

857
01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:08,980
or IEJA for short,

858
01:07:09,300 --> 01:07:11,460
established a national electric vehicle

859
01:07:11,460 --> 01:07:17,000
electrical infrastructure program, or NEVY for short, and allocated what is now $323

860
01:07:17,000 --> 01:07:20,680
million to deploy electric vehicle charging stations across the state.

861
01:07:21,340 --> 01:07:25,860
TechStots' role is limited to facilitating this federal pass-through competitive grant

862
01:07:25,860 --> 01:07:29,760
program for NEVY with no state funds being used.

863
01:07:30,500 --> 01:07:36,520
Federal funds pay 80% of the construction cost plus five years of operation and maintenance

864
01:07:36,520 --> 01:07:42,880
with the private sector developers who are awarded grants through this program paying the remaining 20%.

865
01:07:43,520 --> 01:07:48,080
After receiving final Navy rules from HWA in 2023,

866
01:07:50,200 --> 01:07:55,080
the Texas Electric Vehicle Implementation Plan was finalized by TPP

867
01:07:55,080 --> 01:07:59,380
and approved by the Transportation Commission in August of 2023.

868
01:08:00,180 --> 01:08:04,220
This approval then authorized text out to commence with Navy Phase 1.

869
01:08:04,900 --> 01:08:11,320
So as a reminder, Navy Phase 1 allocated 53 million focus on developing electric vehicle charging stations

870
01:08:11,320 --> 01:08:15,740
along our alternate fuel corridors, which are mostly our interstate highways across the state,

871
01:08:16,460 --> 01:08:21,740
with stations located outside of state right away and within one mile from these interstates.

872
01:08:22,540 --> 01:08:28,220
Phase 1 approved construction of electric vehicle charging stations at 65 sites across the state

873
01:08:28,220 --> 01:08:34,000
with 15 of these sites already open and operational to the public.

874
01:08:34,380 --> 01:08:37,180
And those stretch as far as why in the north to Happy Texas,

875
01:08:37,700 --> 01:08:41,140
in the south, in Sinow, Texas, in west Texas to Bomberay,

876
01:08:41,440 --> 01:08:42,340
and even Fort Worth.

877
01:08:42,840 --> 01:08:45,440
And I would like to advise the commission in public

878
01:08:45,440 --> 01:08:48,420
that we have a landing page for Nevy.

879
01:08:48,680 --> 01:08:51,340
If you search text.nevy in Google,

880
01:08:51,500 --> 01:08:52,760
it will take you right to our landing page

881
01:08:52,760 --> 01:08:54,080
with all the information about the program

882
01:08:54,080 --> 01:08:56,120
as well as photos of all the sites

883
01:08:56,120 --> 01:08:57,300
that are currently open to the public.

884
01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:04,600
So with that said, NEVY then, sorry, FHWA then approved

885
01:09:05,200 --> 01:09:08,960
our phase one fully build out status in January, 2026,

886
01:09:09,060 --> 01:09:11,400
which is why we are before you today here at the commission.

887
01:09:11,920 --> 01:09:13,840
So this minute order being brought today,

888
01:09:14,040 --> 01:09:17,260
request approval for text dot to begin NEVY phase two

889
01:09:17,260 --> 01:09:19,220
and take the following actions.

890
01:09:20,120 --> 01:09:23,380
First, proceed with the proposed sites identified

891
01:09:23,380 --> 01:09:29,220
for Phase 2 of the NEVY program within county, seats, and metropolitan areas for an estimated

892
01:09:29,220 --> 01:09:36,120
cost of between $250 to $275 million, which includes the operation and maintenance of these

893
01:09:36,120 --> 01:09:41,000
sites for five years, two, to issue one or more requests for grant applications to

894
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:46,580
construct electric vehicle charging stations in county seats and metropolitan areas, three,

895
01:09:47,280 --> 01:09:51,820
to award one or more grants in accordance with the evaluation and selection process set

896
01:09:51,820 --> 01:09:55,280
forth in the request for grant applications and program manual.

897
01:09:56,140 --> 01:10:01,540
And lastly, to authorize the executive director to enter into grant agreements with the selected

898
01:10:01,540 --> 01:10:03,560
applicants awarded said grants.

899
01:10:04,280 --> 01:10:08,480
Staff recommends approval of this minute order and is here to answer any questions you

900
01:10:08,480 --> 01:10:08,780
may have.

901
01:10:09,200 --> 01:10:09,560
Thank you.

902
01:10:11,720 --> 01:10:15,000
Commissioner, are there any remarks or questions for Director Gonzales?

903
01:10:16,380 --> 01:10:22,120
No, seeing none, may I have a motion to approve a request for grant applications

904
01:10:22,120 --> 01:10:24,940
to construct electric vehicle charging stations

905
01:10:24,940 --> 01:10:27,000
in accordance with staff's recommendation?

906
01:10:28,460 --> 01:10:30,040
Commissioner Mead's moved approval.

907
01:10:30,520 --> 01:10:30,740
Second.

908
01:10:30,980 --> 01:10:34,140
Commissioner Gordon has seconded.

909
01:10:34,320 --> 01:10:34,840
Call for the vote.

910
01:10:34,920 --> 01:10:36,480
All those in favor, please say aye.

911
01:10:36,700 --> 01:10:36,940
Aye.

912
01:10:37,580 --> 01:10:38,060
Any opposed?

913
01:10:38,900 --> 01:10:40,420
Motion passes unanimously.

914
01:10:40,860 --> 01:10:42,040
And Director Williams.

915
01:10:42,860 --> 01:10:43,480
Thank you, Chair Knew.

916
01:10:43,600 --> 01:10:44,700
Moving on to item eight.

917
01:10:44,860 --> 01:10:47,260
And this is the consideration of approving the selection

918
01:10:47,260 --> 01:10:50,200
of the proposer who submitted the best value proposal

919
01:10:50,200 --> 01:10:54,020
and the conditional award of a design build contract

920
01:10:54,020 --> 01:10:56,440
and its corresponding capital maintenance contract

921
01:10:56,440 --> 01:10:59,820
to the selected proposer for the design, construction,

922
01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:02,720
and maintenance of the State Highway 99

923
01:11:02,720 --> 01:11:05,260
Grand Parkway Segment B-1 project.

924
01:11:05,800 --> 01:11:08,060
Alternative delivery division director,

925
01:11:08,300 --> 01:11:10,240
Greg Snyder is here and he will present this item.

926
01:11:10,580 --> 01:11:10,660
Greg.

927
01:11:11,240 --> 01:11:12,120
Thank you. Good morning.

928
01:11:12,720 --> 01:11:15,120
So this morning I have the privilege to provide you

929
01:11:15,120 --> 01:11:16,840
with an overview of the State Highway 99

930
01:11:16,840 --> 01:11:21,160
Grant Parkway Segment B project and present our recommendation for Best Value Proposer

931
01:11:21,660 --> 01:11:23,640
for Contracts Conditional Award.

932
01:11:27,480 --> 01:11:32,560
To move this critical project forward, we're seeking the commission's action on three key

933
01:11:32,560 --> 01:11:33,360
items.

934
01:11:33,520 --> 01:11:38,260
First, authorize the Conditional Award of the Design-Built Contract and Capital Maintenance

935
01:11:38,260 --> 01:11:41,140
Contracts to the proposer that offers the best value.

936
01:11:41,740 --> 01:11:46,740
Second, authorize TechStyle's executive director to finalize all negotiations with that

937
01:11:46,740 --> 01:11:50,740
and make any necessary modifications to prepare those contracts for execution.

938
01:11:51,720 --> 01:11:57,020
Third, in the event that we're unable to successfully negotiate with Best Buy a Proposer,

939
01:11:57,120 --> 01:11:59,840
move along to the second ranked proposer.

940
01:12:00,700 --> 01:12:06,120
And then just to write this, this recommended commission action is preceded

941
01:12:06,120 --> 01:12:09,460
by the designation of State Highway 99 and State Highway B1

942
01:12:09,460 --> 01:12:14,020
as a toll project as of January last year.

943
01:12:14,020 --> 01:12:16,420
or January 2024 commission meeting actually.

944
01:12:18,440 --> 01:12:19,840
Okay, so moving along,

945
01:12:20,080 --> 01:12:22,680
a little bit about the design build project scope.

946
01:12:23,120 --> 01:12:24,700
So design build project limits are approximately

947
01:12:24,700 --> 01:12:28,400
from FM2403 to FM646,

948
01:12:29,280 --> 01:12:30,960
shown in the blue on the map there,

949
01:12:31,140 --> 01:12:34,500
roughly Alvin over to 45, highway 45.

950
01:12:37,320 --> 01:12:38,640
The orange line represents

951
01:12:38,640 --> 01:12:40,380
the design bid build project limits.

952
01:12:40,800 --> 01:12:42,740
Together they form the complete

953
01:12:42,740 --> 01:12:47,760
Grand Parkway segment B1. Ultimately this project is designed to deliver

954
01:12:47,760 --> 01:12:51,600
significant long-term benefits to the region by improving safety and mobility,

955
01:12:52,200 --> 01:12:55,160
system connectivity, opportunities for economic development,

956
01:12:55,800 --> 01:12:58,420
and alternative routes for emergency evacuation.

957
01:13:01,830 --> 01:13:03,310
A little more of an overview on the project.

958
01:13:03,650 --> 01:13:05,750
So the project is approximately 15 miles in length.

959
01:13:07,070 --> 01:13:12,510
The green-filled portion of the project, the State Highway 999 portion of the project

960
01:13:12,510 --> 01:13:18,430
will include four new toll lanes with discontinuous frontage roads, connectors with the State Highway

961
01:13:18,430 --> 01:13:26,230
35 interchange. As part of the project, there will be 1.3 miles of non-tolled improvements

962
01:13:26,230 --> 01:13:32,550
to State Highway 35 in form of main lanes and additional 4.6 miles of operational improvements

963
01:13:32,550 --> 01:13:34,170
made to State Highway 35.

964
01:13:37,570 --> 01:13:43,490
A little on the funding. So the total design build cost

965
01:13:43,490 --> 01:13:48,130
estimate is approximately 1.96 billion. Estimated funding for this product is

966
01:13:48,130 --> 01:13:52,490
divided into two components. The State Highway 99 portion which includes the

967
01:13:52,490 --> 01:13:56,150
new toll lanes and associated improvements. And then the non-tolled

968
01:13:56,150 --> 01:14:01,070
portion which includes the State Highway 35 non-tolled main lanes near

969
01:14:01,070 --> 01:14:01,890
near the interchange.

970
01:14:02,870 --> 01:14:04,710
So the Grand Parkway Transportation Corporation,

971
01:14:04,950 --> 01:14:06,950
which manages and finances the State Highway 99

972
01:14:06,950 --> 01:14:08,930
toll road system around Houston,

973
01:14:09,290 --> 01:14:11,510
will fund the total portion of the design build contract

974
01:14:11,510 --> 01:14:13,730
using toll revenue debt and available system cash.

975
01:14:14,650 --> 01:14:17,490
The non-tolled State Highway 35 portion of the project

976
01:14:17,490 --> 01:14:21,510
will be funded using Texas' traditional funding categories

977
01:14:21,510 --> 01:14:23,910
with an approximate total value of 187 million.

978
01:14:27,790 --> 01:14:29,070
So a little on to the,

979
01:14:29,250 --> 01:14:32,810
so we received proposals from three short-listed

980
01:14:32,810 --> 01:14:38,570
proposal teams and alphabetical order here. These are the three teams. Ferroville Construction,

981
01:14:40,790 --> 01:14:42,630
Floor, Enterprises and Williams Brothers.

982
01:14:45,980 --> 01:14:48,340
Since receiving the proposals, the department has

983
01:14:48,340 --> 01:14:52,880
performed a rigorous evaluation to determine the best value of a proposal. The best value

984
01:14:52,880 --> 01:14:58,220
scoring has two components with up to 70 points for price and up to 30 points for the quality

985
01:14:58,220 --> 01:14:59,320
of the technical components.

986
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:01,120
of their proposals.

987
01:15:04,180 --> 01:15:08,320
So, before we move on to the next slide, I'd like to thank the teams that

988
01:15:08,320 --> 01:15:14,680
submitted their proposals. Quite an extensive amount of work went into preparing these proposals

989
01:15:14,680 --> 01:15:20,720
for the department. We've been in a procurement, active procurement for well over a year. I'd

990
01:15:20,720 --> 01:15:24,640
also like to thank Glenn's team in Houston and the tech side folks who are very much

991
01:15:24,640 --> 01:15:31,180
involved and did this above and beyond their day-to-day job duties helped us out with the

992
01:15:31,180 --> 01:15:31,520
evaluation.

993
01:15:31,940 --> 01:15:38,340
So with that, the detailed evaluations resulted in the determination of the best value proposer

994
01:15:38,340 --> 01:15:42,380
being Ferroville Construction Webber 99.

995
01:15:42,940 --> 01:15:48,420
And so the breakdown here on this slide shows the rankings of the total score for

996
01:15:48,420 --> 01:15:56,680
three proposers, as well as the price received from the Froga-Weber team, component price,

997
01:15:57,000 --> 01:16:06,200
design bill contract, capital maintenance contract, some there, approximately 1.47 billion.

998
01:16:08,700 --> 01:16:10,020
All right, next steps.

999
01:16:10,400 --> 01:16:13,440
So with your approval, the next steps are to negotiate those final terms of design

1000
01:16:13,440 --> 01:16:18,000
bill contract, hold public hearings and disclosure of financial information in accordance

1001
01:16:18,000 --> 01:16:22,840
with statutes, obtain FHWA concurrence with the final award.

1002
01:16:23,300 --> 01:16:25,660
We anticipate the final award in contract execution,

1003
01:16:26,500 --> 01:16:28,800
would the contract execution happen this summer?

1004
01:16:30,180 --> 01:16:33,580
Substantial completion of this project would be anticipated

1005
01:16:33,580 --> 01:16:35,740
in winter of 2031, 2032.

1006
01:16:36,400 --> 01:16:38,180
Staff recommends approval of this minute order

1007
01:16:38,180 --> 01:16:40,240
and available for any questions.

1008
01:16:43,940 --> 01:16:45,680
Commissioners, questions or comments?

1009
01:16:45,940 --> 01:16:46,800
Commissioner Alvis?

1010
01:16:47,080 --> 01:16:47,980
I'd use some comments.

1011
01:16:47,980 --> 01:16:50,700
I really want to compliment the Houston District,

1012
01:16:50,940 --> 01:16:53,000
Glenn and his team, and Mark, and everybody

1013
01:16:53,000 --> 01:16:57,040
involved from the time those counties gave up

1014
01:16:57,040 --> 01:16:58,800
primacy to tech stock.

1015
01:16:59,540 --> 01:17:03,400
This is just record speed getting the contract

1016
01:17:03,400 --> 01:17:04,840
let from that time.

1017
01:17:05,560 --> 01:17:07,520
And really impressive.

1018
01:17:08,280 --> 01:17:10,660
And I know the team worked incredibly hard.

1019
01:17:11,020 --> 01:17:14,640
We thought it was going to be a $1.9 billion project.

1020
01:17:14,640 --> 01:17:20,620
That's a $500 million savings that can be used elsewhere in that system.

1021
01:17:21,140 --> 01:17:31,300
This is a big chunk of getting from 45 South to 59 South and completing the 167 mile Grand

1022
01:17:31,300 --> 01:17:33,120
Parkway around Greater Houston.

1023
01:17:33,660 --> 01:17:39,600
This is a key evacuation route and of course you just saw the demographics of the growth

1024
01:17:39,600 --> 01:17:46,820
of those corridors are just massive growth in residential population. So job

1025
01:17:46,820 --> 01:17:52,960
well done, this is well on its way and very very important to Texas. Thank you.

1026
01:17:55,170 --> 01:18:00,290
Thank you Commissioner Alvis. So one of the things to note that's Commissioner

1027
01:18:00,290 --> 01:18:05,750
Alvis's biggest contribution, one of his biggest contributions to our

1028
01:18:05,750 --> 01:18:10,110
Commission and each one of us brings strengths, but his is efficiency. That's

1029
01:18:10,110 --> 01:18:16,790
what he works on. So that's good stuff. Now, you should have let me go first because yours

1030
01:18:16,790 --> 01:18:26,790
was better. But important to this, I thought, we're connecting Alvin to the rest of the world.

1031
01:18:33,140 --> 01:18:39,640
And then from that though, I did want to just have, maybe it doesn't matter to me,

1032
01:18:39,640 --> 01:18:40,980
You make a stab at it.

1033
01:18:41,120 --> 01:18:43,040
If you need help, we'll get you some help, okay?

1034
01:18:44,880 --> 01:18:47,400
Tolls, and we're in a non-toll environment,

1035
01:18:47,660 --> 01:18:50,320
but this one is grandfathered, right?

1036
01:18:50,620 --> 01:18:51,580
So can you explain that?

1037
01:18:52,040 --> 01:18:54,860
Yeah, the Grand Parkway system was contemplated

1038
01:18:54,860 --> 01:18:55,780
as a toll road.

1039
01:18:56,020 --> 01:18:58,020
There's a market waiver evaluation agreement

1040
01:18:58,020 --> 01:18:59,660
that was signed by all the counties

1041
01:18:59,660 --> 01:19:01,980
that contemplated a toll policy for the job.

1042
01:19:02,920 --> 01:19:04,400
It's always been agreed to

1043
01:19:04,400 --> 01:19:07,660
that this would be a toll system, toll system.

1044
01:19:07,900 --> 01:19:08,120
Yes, sir?

1045
01:19:08,260 --> 01:19:08,460
Okay.

1046
01:19:10,840 --> 01:19:17,800
second thing design build so we do nearly all of our work in design bid

1047
01:19:17,800 --> 01:19:23,760
build right okay so this one is design build so tell us why we would do that

1048
01:19:23,760 --> 01:19:27,800
and what the differences are yeah for this so generally we do one to two

1049
01:19:27,800 --> 01:19:34,320
projects a year on the design build side design build affords a design build

1050
01:19:34,320 --> 01:19:37,980
contractor ability to bring some innovation we're able to they're

1051
01:19:37,980 --> 01:19:44,280
able to construct while also designing. The method allows, we've seen as much as three

1052
01:19:44,280 --> 01:19:53,260
years in accelerated delivery of projects. In this case, this model also allows for a

1053
01:19:53,260 --> 01:20:01,560
lump sum contract, which is great for the financing side of the job. And there is some

1054
01:20:01,560 --> 01:20:05,720
risk transfer associated with a design bill contract because of that nature of them contracting

1055
01:20:05,720 --> 01:20:10,460
with the design firm and working directly with the designer.

1056
01:20:11,420 --> 01:20:16,700
So there's something to do with pacing that sets it up

1057
01:20:16,700 --> 01:20:22,660
where we're only going to do certain number of these design build jobs, right, at one time.

1058
01:20:22,860 --> 01:20:25,240
So you want to talk about that just a little bit.

1059
01:20:25,800 --> 01:20:27,560
You know, we're not going to do three at a time

1060
01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:30,020
because there aren't very many people that can do these, right?

1061
01:20:30,720 --> 01:20:31,780
Yes, sure.

1062
01:20:31,780 --> 01:20:36,680
So I'll take a shot and Brian can jump in if, but yes sir.

1063
01:20:36,880 --> 01:20:40,260
So by statute we have the ability to do six for biennium.

1064
01:20:41,000 --> 01:20:50,700
Generally these jobs are larger in dollar amount because of the complexity that we're looking for

1065
01:20:50,700 --> 01:20:55,240
to maximize the benefit of the delivery model.

1066
01:20:55,380 --> 01:20:57,800
So really we're looking for those jobs that have those opportunities for innovation

1067
01:20:57,800 --> 01:21:01,160
and that complexity in them that tend to be the larger jobs.

1068
01:21:02,800 --> 01:21:05,540
I was going to say, Ryan, you might also mention the evaluation

1069
01:21:05,540 --> 01:21:10,240
tool that we use that I think University of Texas worked with us on.

1070
01:21:10,520 --> 01:21:13,780
Yeah, so we have developed a tool over the years that

1071
01:21:13,780 --> 01:21:17,400
evaluates the method to deliver a project.

1072
01:21:17,920 --> 01:21:20,800
It looks at a lot of factors about the project,

1073
01:21:21,720 --> 01:21:25,900
amount of right-of-way to acquire, amount of utilities to relocate,

1074
01:21:25,900 --> 01:21:31,640
the type of designs, is there opportunity for innovation in the project?

1075
01:21:32,160 --> 01:21:39,740
And so that we run that tool on every project before we do a procurement and this one weighed heavily towards design build.

1076
01:21:43,730 --> 01:21:47,270
Final thing for the two of you is there's also some reimbursement.

1077
01:21:47,330 --> 01:21:56,770
You talked about some innovation and things like that, but also the fact that these are big investments by the people that are trying to win the contract.

1078
01:21:56,770 --> 01:22:04,150
So, just a little explanation of that and I think that it will inform the public and some of the commission about this process.

1079
01:22:04,750 --> 01:22:14,890
Yeah, so these procurements that go after these big projects in a design bill procurement cost the industry a lot of money to go after them.

1080
01:22:15,610 --> 01:22:25,010
You all approved when we shortlisted these three firms, you also approved a payment of a stipend to the unsuccessful bidders.

1081
01:22:25,010 --> 01:22:29,930
and really that's we've got to evaluate their work that they provided in their

1082
01:22:29,930 --> 01:22:35,770
proposal to make sure we're getting value for that work but once we do that

1083
01:22:35,770 --> 01:22:41,850
we can pay them the stipend which kind of offsets their their expenses for

1084
01:22:41,850 --> 01:22:46,750
forbidding it's it's not as much as it they're spending but it does does help

1085
01:22:46,750 --> 01:22:51,290
them offset those expenses and you need bids we need bids we need

1086
01:22:51,290 --> 01:22:59,170
competition, which is another reason why we stagger them, because it would be really difficult

1087
01:22:59,170 --> 01:23:03,250
for some of these proposers to go after two of these projects at the same time.

1088
01:23:03,870 --> 01:23:04,190
Yes.

1089
01:23:04,930 --> 01:23:08,530
So with that, back to the pacing to make sure we get good bids and good participation.

1090
01:23:08,990 --> 01:23:09,330
That's right.

1091
01:23:10,770 --> 01:23:11,290
Okay.

1092
01:23:11,570 --> 01:23:12,350
One last thing.

1093
01:23:13,050 --> 01:23:17,050
What would you like to ask yourself and then answer that I'm not smart enough to

1094
01:23:17,050 --> 01:23:21,450
to ask to let you inform the public or the commission about these processes.

1095
01:23:27,060 --> 01:23:30,200
Is this the right way to deliver this project?

1096
01:23:31,400 --> 01:23:32,760
Yes, it is.

1097
01:23:36,720 --> 01:23:38,380
Outstanding, you're much better at this.

1098
01:23:38,940 --> 01:23:40,480
Okay, have a seat.

1099
01:23:47,420 --> 01:23:53,900
So, with no questions, is there any further input from commissioners?

1100
01:23:54,560 --> 01:23:59,700
Okay, sir. I'm moved to approve. Outstanding. I need a motion to approve the

1101
01:23:59,700 --> 01:24:02,960
selected proposer in accordance with staff's recommendation and I have it

1102
01:24:02,960 --> 01:24:07,940
from Commissioner Alvis. Good job. And another Commissioner Mead seconds. Call

1103
01:24:07,940 --> 01:24:13,500
for the vote. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, thank you.

1104
01:24:13,580 --> 01:24:17,960
The motion carries unanimously. The Director Williams. Thank you Chair Newn.

1105
01:24:17,960 --> 01:24:23,100
and commissioners. Now we're going to move to item 9A1, and this is a

1106
01:24:23,100 --> 01:24:29,320
promulgation of proposed rules for Chapter 7 rail facilities regarding the

1107
01:24:29,320 --> 01:24:33,340
short-line railroad improvement state fund program. Our rail division director

1108
01:24:33,340 --> 01:24:37,460
Donald Franks is here, and he's going to present this item. Good morning,

1109
01:24:37,680 --> 01:24:42,240
Acting Chair, new commissioners, and Executive Director Williams. Today I'm

1110
01:24:42,240 --> 01:24:45,500
here requesting commission approval of the short-line railroad improvement

1111
01:24:45,500 --> 01:24:51,380
state fund program as authorized by Senate Bill 2366. While the program is

1112
01:24:51,380 --> 01:24:55,260
currently unfunded, approval will establish the framework needed to

1113
01:24:55,260 --> 01:24:59,000
support future investment in short line rail infrastructure across Texas.

1114
01:24:59,520 --> 01:25:03,920
Program will enhance freight mobility, promote economic development, and improve

1115
01:25:03,920 --> 01:25:07,700
rail safety while reinforcing the role of short line railroads within the

1116
01:25:07,700 --> 01:25:11,760
state's multimodal transportation system. Authorization of the program at

1117
01:25:11,760 --> 01:25:16,040
this time positions the commission to efficiently deploy funding when it

1118
01:25:16,040 --> 01:25:19,800
becomes available. Staff recommends approval. I'm happy to answer any

1119
01:25:19,800 --> 01:25:20,120
questions.

1120
01:25:22,250 --> 01:25:25,310
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for Director Franks?

1121
01:25:26,490 --> 01:25:31,930
Okay, seeing none, I do have two yellow cards on this agenda item. First,

1122
01:25:32,110 --> 01:25:35,430
I'd like to invite to the podium Peter Lakoti.

1123
01:25:44,480 --> 01:25:45,120
Good morning, Acting

1124
01:25:45,120 --> 01:25:49,080
Chair, Commissioners and Executive Director Peter Lakoti, I'm president of

1125
01:25:49,080 --> 01:25:54,460
Texas Rail Advocates. We are a non-profit based in Dallas that supports both freight

1126
01:25:54,460 --> 01:25:59,800
and passenger rail projects in Texas. We appreciate our state legislators having the

1127
01:25:59,800 --> 01:26:04,740
foresight to create the Short Line Railroad Improvement State Fund program, and we want

1128
01:26:04,740 --> 01:26:09,600
to thank all of you and Texas staff for your work creating the framework that will

1129
01:26:09,600 --> 01:26:13,220
spur further economic development through strengthening short line railroads.

1130
01:26:13,220 --> 01:26:21,120
The way the initial law was crafted last year, it applies to the few rural rail districts, the active ones in Texas.

1131
01:26:21,740 --> 01:26:28,520
And some of them are in very dire need of infrastructure improvements, such as Netex, the Northeast Texas rural rail district.

1132
01:26:29,280 --> 01:26:41,560
You may remember back in 2024, then-state representative Jill Hutton appeared before you and demonstrated how century-old nails, not rail spikes, were holding this railroad together.

1133
01:26:42,200 --> 01:26:46,640
Trains on the line now run at under 10 miles an hour due to existing track

1134
01:26:46,640 --> 01:26:50,820
conditions and from Greenville through Sulphur Springs to Mount Pleasant with

1135
01:26:50,820 --> 01:26:56,020
some tender loving care and probably some appropriate matching funding. This

1136
01:26:56,020 --> 01:26:59,760
rail line can be an economic generator and attract new business to the region.

1137
01:27:00,860 --> 01:27:04,880
We hope that you will add an exceptional item in the upcoming legislative

1138
01:27:04,880 --> 01:27:08,760
appropriation request for funding projects under this grant program and

1139
01:27:08,760 --> 01:27:14,860
to broaden the scope of the existing law. We're going to have conversations with

1140
01:27:14,860 --> 01:27:19,100
the folks across the street to add additional language so that the some

1141
01:27:19,100 --> 01:27:24,400
50 short-line mom-and-pop railroads throughout Texas that are other than

1142
01:27:24,400 --> 01:27:28,940
rural rail districts can work with local and regional governmental entities

1143
01:27:28,940 --> 01:27:33,040
that would be recipients of matching rail grants. Now most of the

1144
01:27:33,040 --> 01:27:36,900
short-line railroads in Texas operate in rural communities that can use an

1145
01:27:36,900 --> 01:27:41,740
economic boost. And by working hand in hand with local and regional government

1146
01:27:41,740 --> 01:27:45,880
agencies to improve railroad infrastructure, they will be adding jobs

1147
01:27:45,880 --> 01:27:50,120
and bringing industrial development to disadvantaged areas. So again, thank you

1148
01:27:50,120 --> 01:27:54,120
for your efforts. And we look forward to seeing the future benefits that are

1149
01:27:54,120 --> 01:27:55,500
derived from this new rail fund.

1150
01:27:58,080 --> 01:27:59,280
Thank you, Mr. Lakoti.

1151
01:28:02,400 --> 01:28:03,260
At this time, I

1152
01:28:03,260 --> 01:28:06,520
would like to invite Joey Evans to the podium.

1153
01:28:10,130 --> 01:28:11,230
Good morning, Chairman,

1154
01:28:11,970 --> 01:28:15,690
Commissioners and Executive Director Williams. My name is Joey Evans. I'm here

1155
01:28:15,690 --> 01:28:19,730
representing the Texas Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, where I

1156
01:28:19,730 --> 01:28:24,010
serve as the President. We represent the 50 short lines across the state of Texas.

1157
01:28:24,630 --> 01:28:27,750
I'm here in strong support of the proposed rules implementing the

1158
01:28:27,750 --> 01:28:32,310
short line railroad improvement state fund program. This program is not just

1159
01:28:32,310 --> 01:28:36,090
helpful, it's necessary. Short line railroads are the first and last mile

1160
01:28:36,090 --> 01:28:37,630
of the freight network in Texas.

1161
01:28:38,370 --> 01:28:41,890
Many of these lines have seen underinvestment

1162
01:28:41,890 --> 01:28:44,470
particular in rural areas over the last few decades.

1163
01:28:45,450 --> 01:28:47,370
Without targeted funding tools like this,

1164
01:28:47,530 --> 01:28:49,050
we risk loss of rail service,

1165
01:28:49,630 --> 01:28:51,510
increased traffic on rural highways,

1166
01:28:52,110 --> 01:28:54,290
and lost economic development opportunities.

1167
01:28:55,130 --> 01:28:56,970
The program is focused and disciplined.

1168
01:28:57,670 --> 01:29:00,470
It targets track, bridges, and capacity improvements,

1169
01:29:00,970 --> 01:29:03,930
requires projects to be stand-alone and constructable,

1170
01:29:03,930 --> 01:29:06,630
and it ensures local commitment and accountability.

1171
01:29:07,430 --> 01:29:09,350
It aligns with our statewide priorities.

1172
01:29:09,890 --> 01:29:12,830
It improves public safety, reduces highway congestion,

1173
01:29:13,470 --> 01:29:15,910
and drives economic development in rural Texas.

1174
01:29:16,750 --> 01:29:18,070
When short lines are upgraded,

1175
01:29:18,550 --> 01:29:21,290
we can handle 286,000-pound railcars,

1176
01:29:21,670 --> 01:29:24,310
we retain and attract industry and rural communities,

1177
01:29:24,910 --> 01:29:26,850
and we remove thousands of truckloads

1178
01:29:26,850 --> 01:29:27,990
from Texas highways.

1179
01:29:28,830 --> 01:29:30,750
Conversely, without investment,

1180
01:29:30,750 --> 01:29:34,690
lines fall below viable standards, customers leave,

1181
01:29:35,550 --> 01:29:38,390
and we do run the risk of abandonment.

1182
01:29:39,170 --> 01:29:42,610
This program is a smart, targeted investment in Texas infrastructure.

1183
01:29:43,430 --> 01:29:46,650
It strengthens our supply chains, supports rural economies,

1184
01:29:46,910 --> 01:29:50,770
and protects our highway systems. In closing, I would say that this is one

1185
01:29:50,770 --> 01:29:54,810
of the most practical and impactful rail funding tools Texas has put

1186
01:29:54,810 --> 01:29:59,050
forward, and it will deliver real results where it is needed the most.

1187
01:29:59,050 --> 01:29:59,150
Thank you.

1188
01:29:59,150 --> 01:29:59,270
I appreciate it.

1189
01:29:59,710 --> 01:29:59,950
Bye now.

1190
01:29:59,950 --> 01:29:59,970
Have a great day.

1191
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:04,140
I appreciate the commission's time and leadership and strongly support the adoption of these rules.

1192
01:30:04,820 --> 01:30:05,260
Thank you.

1193
01:30:07,250 --> 01:30:08,270
Thank you, sir.

1194
01:30:10,090 --> 01:30:13,490
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for Director Franks?

1195
01:30:14,350 --> 01:30:21,830
Okay. Seeing none, and having made our way through our attendees and their questions and remarks,

1196
01:30:22,450 --> 01:30:27,910
may I have a motion to approve the proposed amendments to Chapter 7 rules in accordance with staff's recommendation?

1197
01:30:27,910 --> 01:30:30,630
I have Commissioner Vaughn making the motion.

1198
01:30:31,030 --> 01:30:33,170
I have Commissioner Mead making the second.

1199
01:30:33,370 --> 01:30:33,950
Call for the vote.

1200
01:30:34,050 --> 01:30:35,550
All those in favor, please say aye.

1201
01:30:36,030 --> 01:30:37,050
Any opposed?

1202
01:30:38,050 --> 01:30:38,290
Okay.

1203
01:30:38,410 --> 01:30:39,750
Motion passes unanimously.

1204
01:30:40,290 --> 01:30:40,890
Director Williams.

1205
01:30:42,750 --> 01:30:43,450
Thank you.

1206
01:30:43,550 --> 01:30:44,980
We're going to move on to item 9A2.

1207
01:30:45,610 --> 01:30:47,950
And this is the consideration of the proposed amendments

1208
01:30:47,950 --> 01:30:51,790
to Chapter 30 rules regarding the Aviation Facilities

1209
01:30:51,790 --> 01:30:54,990
Development Financial Assistance Rules.

1210
01:30:54,990 --> 01:31:04,130
Aviation Division Director Dan Harmon is not here to present this item, and we will go to real quickly.

1211
01:31:09,230 --> 01:31:10,070
Michael Van Hly.

1212
01:31:11,270 --> 01:31:16,430
Thank you. Good morning again. The Aviation Division has two proposed rule changes.

1213
01:31:16,990 --> 01:31:24,610
Number one, it amends to an amendment to Texas Administrative Code Chapter 30 concerning aviation facilities, development,

1214
01:31:24,610 --> 01:31:31,610
and financial assistance to implement the provisions of House Bill 4520 from the 89th Legislature.

1215
01:31:32,370 --> 01:31:41,350
House Bill 4520 amended transportation code section 21.105 to reduce the local match requirement

1216
01:31:41,350 --> 01:31:48,330
for grants or loans at airports located in economically disadvantaged counties from 10% to 5%.

1217
01:31:48,330 --> 01:31:55,170
The bill also repealed section 21.114 aligning state law with the Federal Aviation Administration

1218
01:31:55,170 --> 01:32:00,370
State Block Grant Program, which no longer treats reliever airports separately from other

1219
01:32:00,370 --> 01:32:01,550
general aviation airports.

1220
01:32:02,330 --> 01:32:06,350
Staff recommends approval, and I'm happy to answer any questions with this proposed

1221
01:32:06,350 --> 01:32:07,190
rule change.

1222
01:32:07,930 --> 01:32:08,050
Okay.

1223
01:32:08,710 --> 01:32:11,050
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for?

1224
01:32:12,290 --> 01:32:15,730
I know, but for Director Van Vleet?

1225
01:32:15,870 --> 01:32:16,490
Section Director Van Vleet.

1226
01:32:16,490 --> 01:32:17,950
Section Director Van Vleet.

1227
01:32:17,950 --> 01:32:27,790
I knew the name. I didn't know the title. No questions. Outstanding. May I have a motion

1228
01:32:27,790 --> 01:32:32,250
to approve the proposed amendments to Chapter 30 rules in accordance with staff's recommendation?

1229
01:32:34,390 --> 01:32:40,150
Commissioner Mead made a motion. Commissioner Gordon made the second. All for the call

1230
01:32:40,150 --> 01:32:46,130
for the vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes

1231
01:32:46,130 --> 01:32:47,710
This is unanimously Director Williams.

1232
01:32:48,870 --> 01:32:49,990
We get to do this again.

1233
01:32:50,270 --> 01:32:53,610
So Propagation Item 9A3 is a propagation of rules,

1234
01:32:53,830 --> 01:32:55,790
proposed rules for Chapter 30 aviation

1235
01:32:55,790 --> 01:32:57,950
and Section Director Van Vleet.

1236
01:32:57,990 --> 01:32:58,650
Please continue.

1237
01:32:59,350 --> 01:33:01,530
This involves a consideration of amendments

1238
01:33:01,530 --> 01:33:06,170
to Chapter 30 rules regarding meteorological evaluation

1239
01:33:06,170 --> 01:33:06,690
towers.

1240
01:33:07,830 --> 01:33:08,470
Excellent.

1241
01:33:08,750 --> 01:33:09,050
Thank you.

1242
01:33:09,610 --> 01:33:11,170
This minute order proposes amendments

1243
01:33:11,170 --> 01:33:13,810
to the Texas Administrative Code Chapter 30

1244
01:33:13,810 --> 01:33:21,870
concerning meteorological evaluation towers meant to implement the provisions of House

1245
01:33:21,870 --> 01:33:24,730
Bill 2898 from the 89th legislature.

1246
01:33:25,390 --> 01:33:30,610
The amendments to section 30.502 update the definition of a meteorological evaluation

1247
01:33:30,610 --> 01:33:36,430
tower by increasing the base diameter threshold from 6 feet to 12 feet and add a new definition

1248
01:33:36,430 --> 01:33:40,790
for military aviation training facility consistent with statute.

1249
01:33:40,790 --> 01:33:48,350
The amendments to section 30.503 update notification requirements, no later than 30 days after receiving

1250
01:33:48,350 --> 01:33:50,530
notice of intent to erect a MET tower.

1251
01:33:50,990 --> 01:33:56,230
The department will notify nearby federally operated radar installations, military aviation

1252
01:33:56,230 --> 01:34:01,110
training facilities, and applicable county judges based on the defined proximity to

1253
01:34:01,110 --> 01:34:01,870
the proposed tower.

1254
01:34:02,370 --> 01:34:07,410
These changes will align with the administrative code with statute.

1255
01:34:07,410 --> 01:34:11,170
you. The staff recommends approval and I'm happy to answer any additional questions.

1256
01:34:13,440 --> 01:34:19,760
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for Section Director Van Blee? Okay, seeing

1257
01:34:19,760 --> 01:34:24,860
none. May I have a motion to approve the proposed amendments to Chapter 30 rules in

1258
01:34:24,860 --> 01:34:30,680
accordance with staff's recommendation? Okay. Commissioner Alvis has moved approval.

1259
01:34:31,120 --> 01:34:35,320
Second. Commissioner Gordon has moved second. Call for the vote. All those in favor please

1260
01:34:35,320 --> 01:34:35,940
Do you say aye?

1261
01:34:36,220 --> 01:34:36,500
Aye.

1262
01:34:37,200 --> 01:34:37,420
Okay.

1263
01:34:37,880 --> 01:34:38,600
Any opposed?

1264
01:34:39,520 --> 01:34:39,740
Okay.

1265
01:34:39,900 --> 01:34:40,420
Motion carries.

1266
01:34:40,820 --> 01:34:41,640
I have to take it back.

1267
01:34:41,800 --> 01:34:44,520
You took a lot longer than Director Harmon.

1268
01:34:45,100 --> 01:34:45,920
Thank you.

1269
01:34:47,810 --> 01:34:54,690
Moving on now is Item 9B1, and this is the consideration of the final adoption of amendments

1270
01:34:54,690 --> 01:34:57,990
to Chapter 9 rules regarding contracts for highway projects.

1271
01:34:58,170 --> 01:35:02,050
Construction Division Director Dwayne Milligan is back to present this item.

1272
01:35:02,050 --> 01:35:02,570
This

1273
01:35:05,000 --> 01:35:09,200
is final adoption of amendments to Texas Administrative Code Chapter 9 rules governing

1274
01:35:09,200 --> 01:35:11,040
contracts for highway projects.

1275
01:35:11,480 --> 01:35:17,140
Amendments to rule 9.12 qualification of bidders extend the pre-qualification grace period

1276
01:35:17,140 --> 01:35:21,840
to four months for all qualification levels, including qualification under the confidential

1277
01:35:21,840 --> 01:35:25,480
questionnaire, providing additional flexibility for bidders.

1278
01:35:25,940 --> 01:35:31,380
Amendments to rule 9.15, acceptance of bids, allow TechStart to consider a bid non-responsive

1279
01:35:31,380 --> 01:35:41,420
If the department discovers a discrepancy with a bitter certification prior to contract award avoiding unnecessary rejection of all bids and the corresponding delays to project delivery.

1280
01:35:41,940 --> 01:35:44,460
Amendments to 9.17 award a contract.

1281
01:35:45,020 --> 01:35:59,100
Authorize text.to delay its notification of contract award when critical conditions such as railroad agreements, third party financial clearances, or other requirements must be resolved before the contract can be executed.

1282
01:35:59,100 --> 01:36:04,620
Other minor revision standardized terminology throughout the rules and clarify existing business practices.

1283
01:36:05,140 --> 01:36:09,960
These amendments were first proposed at the January 29th, 2026 Commission meeting.

1284
01:36:10,740 --> 01:36:17,560
The rules were published in the February 13th, 2026 edition of the Texas Register and the department received one comment.

1285
01:36:17,880 --> 01:36:22,060
Staff has reviewed and responded to the comment as noted in the adoption preamble.

1286
01:36:22,500 --> 01:36:28,080
Staff recommends approval of this minute order and I'd be happy to answer any questions the Commission may have at this time.

1287
01:36:28,080 --> 01:36:28,180
Yeah.

1288
01:36:29,780 --> 01:36:31,800
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions

1289
01:36:31,800 --> 01:36:32,880
for Director Milligan?

1290
01:36:33,900 --> 01:36:36,780
Seeing none, may I have a motion to approve

1291
01:36:36,780 --> 01:36:39,060
the final adoption of amendments to Chapter 9

1292
01:36:39,060 --> 01:36:40,980
rules in accordance with staff's recommendation?

1293
01:36:45,580 --> 01:36:47,440
Commissioner Gordon has moved approval.

1294
01:36:47,880 --> 01:36:49,880
Commissioner Mead has seconded the motion.

1295
01:36:50,100 --> 01:36:50,740
Call for the vote.

1296
01:36:51,200 --> 01:36:52,940
All those in favor, please say aye.

1297
01:36:53,140 --> 01:36:53,400
Aye.

1298
01:36:54,220 --> 01:36:55,060
Any opposed?

1299
01:36:55,800 --> 01:36:57,020
Motion carries unanimously.

1300
01:36:57,480 --> 01:36:57,920
Thank you, sir.

1301
01:36:59,540 --> 01:37:01,140
Moving on to 9B2.

1302
01:37:01,140 --> 01:37:05,920
And this is the consideration of the final adoption of amendments to Chapter 28 rules

1303
01:37:05,920 --> 01:37:10,520
repealing the requirements for surety bonds to be approved by the Comptroller of Public

1304
01:37:10,520 --> 01:37:12,120
Accounts and the Attorney General's Office.

1305
01:37:12,680 --> 01:37:16,700
Maintenance Division Director James Stevenson is back and he will present this item.

1306
01:37:17,320 --> 01:37:17,660
Good morning.

1307
01:37:18,660 --> 01:37:23,420
This item is for proposed amendments to the Texas Administrative Code 28.11, which

1308
01:37:23,420 --> 01:37:26,540
outlines the requirements for the execution of surety bonds for oversized and overweight

1309
01:37:26,540 --> 01:37:29,400
vehicles, load crossing, textile right-of-way.

1310
01:37:29,400 --> 01:37:34,280
The amendments are needed due to the passage of Senate Bill 995 in the 89th Legislature.

1311
01:37:34,860 --> 01:37:41,060
The bill amended Section 623.051D of the Transportation Code by eliminating the requirement for Attorney

1312
01:37:41,060 --> 01:37:44,300
General's Office and State Comptroller's Office to approve the shirty bond associated

1313
01:37:44,300 --> 01:37:46,980
with a Text Dot Highway Crossing Agreement.

1314
01:37:47,620 --> 01:37:50,800
Senate Bill 995 authorized Text Dot to approve the shirty bond.

1315
01:37:51,800 --> 01:37:56,040
The amendments to 28.11 will remove the requirement that the State Treasurer and

1316
01:37:56,040 --> 01:37:59,680
Attorney General approved the shirty bond associated with the Texot Highway Crossing Agreement.

1317
01:38:00,200 --> 01:38:03,480
The amendment will include the requirement that Texot approve the shirty bond in accordance

1318
01:38:03,880 --> 01:38:05,580
with the amended statutory language.

1319
01:38:06,460 --> 01:38:11,320
Amendment to 28.12e is also required to remove the reference to the approval by the Attorney

1320
01:38:11,320 --> 01:38:14,700
General and Comptroller in conformance with the statutory change.

1321
01:38:15,640 --> 01:38:20,020
Senate Bill 995 went into effective media after it passed on June 20, 2025.

1322
01:38:20,580 --> 01:38:24,440
Texot has updated the shirty bond form and will update the use of Right Away

1323
01:38:24,440 --> 01:38:26,160
by others' manual to reflect the change.

1324
01:38:26,960 --> 01:38:29,640
This change received no comments during the public comment period.

1325
01:38:30,440 --> 01:38:32,540
Staff recommends approval, and I stand by it

1326
01:38:32,540 --> 01:38:34,360
to answer any questions the commission may have this time.

1327
01:38:37,040 --> 01:38:38,840
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions

1328
01:38:38,840 --> 01:38:39,940
for Director Stevenson?

1329
01:38:41,160 --> 01:38:45,760
Okay. Seeing none, may I have a motion to approve the final adoption

1330
01:38:45,760 --> 01:38:48,220
of amendments to Chapter 28 rules in accordance

1331
01:38:48,220 --> 01:38:49,400
with staff's recommendation?

1332
01:38:51,060 --> 01:38:52,600
Commissioner Mead makes a motion.

1333
01:38:52,600 --> 01:38:57,740
Commissioner Alvis seconds. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor please say aye.

1334
01:38:58,920 --> 01:39:03,180
Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries unanimously. Director Williams.

1335
01:39:03,820 --> 01:39:08,160
Thank you. We're moving on now to item 9C. This is a consideration of the

1336
01:39:08,900 --> 01:39:14,680
readoption of chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 21, and 22 rules.

1337
01:39:15,240 --> 01:39:19,020
General Counsel Jeff Graham is here to present this item.

1338
01:39:19,020 --> 01:39:20,100
Good morning.

1339
01:39:20,980 --> 01:39:24,420
State law requires us to review all of our rules every four years.

1340
01:39:24,640 --> 01:39:28,100
We do this on a rotating basis to continue with a decent cadence

1341
01:39:28,100 --> 01:39:29,880
so that they all don't come up at the same time.

1342
01:39:30,620 --> 01:39:34,360
This is a collection of rules that have been reviewed by the various divisions.

1343
01:39:35,500 --> 01:39:37,320
We recommend them for readoption.

1344
01:39:38,160 --> 01:39:39,880
And I stand here for any questions.

1345
01:39:44,310 --> 01:39:46,570
That was very efficient with all of those numbers.

1346
01:39:48,590 --> 01:39:51,950
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for General Counsel Graham?

1347
01:39:53,310 --> 01:40:01,010
Seeing none, may I have a motion to approve the re-adoption of chapters 10, 11, 12, 13,

1348
01:40:01,410 --> 01:40:07,410
15, 16, 21, and 22 rules in accordance with staff's recommendation.

1349
01:40:08,310 --> 01:40:10,190
Commissioner Vaughn has moved approval.

1350
01:40:10,750 --> 01:40:13,910
Commissioner Mead has seconded and called for the vote.

1351
01:40:13,910 --> 01:40:19,990
all those in favor please say aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries unanimously.

1352
01:40:20,350 --> 01:40:25,830
Director Williams, thank you. You saw how Director Graham did, you know, put all the

1353
01:40:25,830 --> 01:40:29,190
work on us to read those chapter rules and he just came up and said any

1354
01:40:29,190 --> 01:40:35,250
questions. Moving on. Item 10 is a contested case and this is a consideration

1355
01:40:35,250 --> 01:40:41,650
of a contested case action involving AZA Construction Inc. and the Texas

1356
01:40:41,650 --> 01:40:46,530
Department of Transportation, Associate General Counsel Deon Marner is here and she will present

1357
01:40:46,530 --> 01:40:52,550
this item. Good morning commissioners. Item 10 on the agenda is an administrative enforcement case

1358
01:40:52,550 --> 01:40:58,430
initiated by department staff under the commission's rules concerning ethical conduct by entities

1359
01:40:58,430 --> 01:41:03,750
doing business with the department. The case concerns the sanction of AZA construction

1360
01:41:03,750 --> 01:41:10,910
for ethical violations, suspending AZA from bidding on or entering into or working

1361
01:41:10,910 --> 01:41:16,790
on contracts with the department. AZA's ethical violation was the failure to disclose the

1362
01:41:16,790 --> 01:41:22,210
text dot, its failure to maintain insurance during the duration of their contracts through

1363
01:41:22,210 --> 01:41:28,870
final acceptance. Based on the ethical violation, AZA was noticed that it was debarred and immediately

1364
01:41:28,870 --> 01:41:33,590
suspended from bidding on entering into or working on contracts with the department

1365
01:41:33,590 --> 01:41:39,810
for 12 months. However, during that time, AZA was allowed to participate in subcontracting

1366
01:41:39,810 --> 01:41:45,330
work with the department. AZA appealed the sanction and an informal hearing before the

1367
01:41:45,330 --> 01:41:53,490
executive director was held. A final determination on appeal was issued on June 13, 2025, upholding

1368
01:41:53,490 --> 01:41:59,510
the 12-month debarment. AZA contested the sanction and the case was submitted to the state

1369
01:41:59,510 --> 01:42:05,610
office of administrative hearings for a contested case hearing. The contested case was held

1370
01:42:05,610 --> 01:42:09,410
by an Administrative Law Judge within the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

1371
01:42:09,910 --> 01:42:16,490
The Administrative Law Judge issued a proposal for decision on January 20, 2026 that upheld

1372
01:42:16,490 --> 01:42:19,330
the sanction of a 12-month debarment and immediate suspension.

1373
01:42:20,230 --> 01:42:25,330
The General Counsel Division recommends the commission approve the recommended 12-month

1374
01:42:25,330 --> 01:42:31,610
debarment of AZA and to direct the Executive Director to issue a final order imposing

1375
01:42:31,610 --> 01:42:32,150
the sanction.

1376
01:42:32,150 --> 01:42:34,790
I am available for any questions you may have.

1377
01:42:37,850 --> 01:42:41,810
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for Associate General Counsel Barnard?

1378
01:42:43,030 --> 01:42:52,790
Okay. Seeing none, may I have a motion to adopt the findings of fact and conclusions of law issued by the State Office of Administrative

1379
01:42:52,790 --> 01:42:57,950
administrative hearings in its proposal for decision and direct the executive director

1380
01:42:57,950 --> 01:43:03,270
to issue a final order imposing the sanction in accordance with staff's recommendation.

1381
01:43:04,590 --> 01:43:06,470
Commissioner Alvis has moved approval.

1382
01:43:06,770 --> 01:43:08,870
Commissioner Mead has seconded the motion.

1383
01:43:09,130 --> 01:43:09,770
Call for the vote.

1384
01:43:09,870 --> 01:43:11,450
All those in favor, please say aye.

1385
01:43:12,590 --> 01:43:13,230
Any opposed?

1386
01:43:13,950 --> 01:43:14,070
Okay.

1387
01:43:14,250 --> 01:43:15,530
Motion carries unanimously.

1388
01:43:16,030 --> 01:43:16,390
Thank you.

1389
01:43:17,010 --> 01:43:17,770
Thank you.

1390
01:43:17,770 --> 01:43:22,230
Commissioner, Director Williams, please.

1391
01:43:22,610 --> 01:43:25,170
Going back, going now to item 11.

1392
01:43:25,850 --> 01:43:29,370
This is a consideration of the approval of applications

1393
01:43:29,370 --> 01:43:31,070
for state infrastructure bank loans

1394
01:43:31,070 --> 01:43:32,010
from various applicants.

1395
01:43:32,330 --> 01:43:34,430
State infrastructure bank program manager,

1396
01:43:34,870 --> 01:43:37,310
Dallas Teston is here, and he will present this item.

1397
01:43:38,010 --> 01:43:38,650
Thank you, Mark.

1398
01:43:39,150 --> 01:43:39,950
Good morning, commissioners.

1399
01:43:40,150 --> 01:43:41,350
I'll start with the overview

1400
01:43:41,350 --> 01:43:43,070
of the state infrastructure bank,

1401
01:43:44,290 --> 01:43:47,250
which shows we currently have about 191 million

1402
01:43:47,250 --> 01:43:51,250
with which to make loans. If the commission approves the three application this month,

1403
01:43:51,830 --> 01:43:56,890
the balance will drop to about 181 million. We have 70 outstanding loans with the remaining

1404
01:43:56,890 --> 01:44:03,670
principal balance of about 323 million. And of the Sibs, 179 total loans there have been no

1405
01:44:03,670 --> 01:44:09,070
defaults to date and all borrowers are current on their obligations. With that overview, I-11 is

1406
01:44:09,070 --> 01:44:15,490
a consideration of three Sib loan requests totaling 9,241,000 from the city of El Paso,

1407
01:44:15,490 --> 01:44:20,470
Phoenix Gas Pipeline Company and Cara Water Supply Corporation. This is the

1408
01:44:20,470 --> 01:44:23,950
first cib loan for Phoenix Gas Pipeline Company, second cib loan for Cara

1409
01:44:23,950 --> 01:44:28,390
Water Supply Corporation, and the sixth cib loan for the city of El Paso. Staff

1410
01:44:28,390 --> 01:44:30,450
recommends approval and I'm happy to answer any questions.

1411
01:44:34,400 --> 01:44:39,990
Commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for Manager Teston? Seeing

1412
01:44:39,990 --> 01:44:47,190
none, I do have a one yellow card. Let me invite Edward Calvo to the podium

1413
01:44:47,190 --> 01:44:47,570
please.

1414
01:44:53,470 --> 01:44:59,130
Good morning. I can share new commissioners. Director Williams, my name is Eduardo Cano.

1415
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:04,340
Director of the El Paso MPO. First of all, let me start by congratulating you, Commissioner

1416
01:45:04,340 --> 01:45:09,360
Gordon, for the appointment. You know, with you on board, we'll continue the great collaboration

1417
01:45:09,360 --> 01:45:14,360
that we've had with the MPO and the tech staff and the commission and look forward to continue

1418
01:45:14,360 --> 01:45:20,340
that working together. Specifically, I'm here to express support for this application. I've

1419
01:45:20,340 --> 01:45:26,840
been here before saying how much we like the SIV. We love the SIV. But it also again

1420
01:45:26,840 --> 01:45:31,580
to stress that it shows a commitment from our local partners here in advancing projects,

1421
01:45:32,160 --> 01:45:40,280
especially when they have our precious category $7. We need to really spend those on a timely

1422
01:45:40,280 --> 01:45:47,960
basis and make sure that we put them on good projects. So again, here to support the application

1423
01:45:47,960 --> 01:45:50,660
and hope it gets approved.

1424
01:45:50,980 --> 01:45:51,380
Thank you.

1425
01:45:52,440 --> 01:45:53,560
Thank you, sir.

1426
01:45:56,120 --> 01:45:58,440
Any further comments or questions?

1427
01:45:58,860 --> 01:46:03,000
If not, I will ask for a motion to approve the application

1428
01:46:03,000 --> 01:46:06,820
for a state infrastructure bank loan from various applicants

1429
01:46:06,820 --> 01:46:08,760
in accordance with staff's recommendation.

1430
01:46:11,650 --> 01:46:12,070
Okay.

1431
01:46:12,850 --> 01:46:14,790
Commissioner Gordon has moved approval.

1432
01:46:15,530 --> 01:46:17,330
Commissioner Vaughn is seconded.

1433
01:46:17,470 --> 01:46:18,090
Call for the vote.

1434
01:46:18,090 --> 01:46:19,750
All those in favor, please say aye.

1435
01:46:19,970 --> 01:46:20,290
Aye.

1436
01:46:20,830 --> 01:46:21,450
Any opposed?

1437
01:46:22,350 --> 01:46:23,550
Motion carries unanimously.

1438
01:46:24,230 --> 01:46:24,510
Thank you.

1439
01:46:25,510 --> 01:46:26,810
Thank you, commissioners.

1440
01:46:27,030 --> 01:46:29,250
That brings us to item 12, the imminent domain proceedings.

1441
01:46:29,450 --> 01:46:32,670
Right away, division director Kyle Madsen is here and will present this item.

1442
01:46:33,670 --> 01:46:39,070
This item authorizes the filing of condemnation proceedings to acquire 54 parcels through the domain.

1443
01:46:39,750 --> 01:46:44,530
Text out will control access to seven of the parcels and it will not control access to 47 of the parcels.

1444
01:46:44,530 --> 01:46:46,590
Staff recommends approval of the minute order.

1445
01:46:46,810 --> 01:46:48,390
I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

1446
01:46:50,540 --> 01:46:54,080
Well, just one question now that the passing of the baton,

1447
01:46:54,280 --> 01:46:57,000
do we have a formal ceremony for that?

1448
01:46:59,720 --> 01:47:01,140
Hang on just a second.

1449
01:47:01,320 --> 01:47:06,000
Will you just quickly say controlled access?

1450
01:47:06,440 --> 01:47:07,320
What is that?

1451
01:47:07,860 --> 01:47:10,780
So controlled access is where the department is controlling

1452
01:47:10,780 --> 01:47:14,400
access off of our roadway to the abutting property owners.

1453
01:47:14,400 --> 01:47:23,980
So in the areas where we are controlling access, the property owner would not be able to get a driveway on to the roadway from that area of their property.

1454
01:47:24,440 --> 01:47:29,340
Okay, so that's why you always say controlled access and uncontrolled access. Thank you.

1455
01:47:30,380 --> 01:47:37,880
And so, commissioners, are there any remarks or questions for Director Madsen? And there was. Is there a ceremony?

1456
01:47:38,320 --> 01:47:39,660
No, we can make one up.

1457
01:47:39,660 --> 01:47:47,380
Okay. There was when I got to do that, I got a nice gift and those things.

1458
01:47:52,800 --> 01:47:55,280
Commissioner Gordon, do you have a motion to make?

1459
01:48:00,100 --> 01:48:02,440
I move that the Texas Transportation Commission

1460
01:48:02,440 --> 01:48:05,440
authorized the Texas Department of Transportation

1461
01:48:05,440 --> 01:48:07,520
to use the power of eminent domain

1462
01:48:07,520 --> 01:48:10,400
to acquire the properties described in the minute order

1463
01:48:10,400 --> 01:48:15,680
set forth in the agenda for the current month for construction, reconstruction,

1464
01:48:16,120 --> 01:48:20,940
maintenance, widening, straightening, or extending the highway facilities listed in

1465
01:48:20,940 --> 01:48:26,600
the minute order as part of the state highway system and that the first record

1466
01:48:26,600 --> 01:48:33,110
vote applies to all units of property to be condemned. Commissioner Gordon has

1467
01:48:33,110 --> 01:48:37,370
moved to authorize condemnation. May I have a second? Commissioner Alvis

1468
01:48:37,370 --> 01:48:39,970
the motion can't get away from it.

1469
01:48:40,350 --> 01:48:42,350
Call for the vote, all those in favor?

1470
01:48:42,870 --> 01:48:43,250
Aye.

1471
01:48:43,770 --> 01:48:44,030
Okay.

1472
01:48:44,210 --> 01:48:44,830
Any opposed?

1473
01:48:45,630 --> 01:48:46,930
Motion carries unanimously.

1474
01:48:47,090 --> 01:48:47,550
Thank you.

1475
01:48:49,470 --> 01:48:50,530
Thank you, commissioners.

1476
01:48:50,670 --> 01:48:51,150
We're moving on.

1477
01:48:51,290 --> 01:48:55,410
Item 13 is the consideration of routine minute orders including donations to the department,

1478
01:48:55,670 --> 01:48:58,470
real estate dispositions, reports, toll rates, and speed zones.

1479
01:48:58,990 --> 01:49:03,390
Staff recommends approval of the minute orders that are included in these routine agenda items.

1480
01:49:03,810 --> 01:49:07,990
Items pertaining to reports to the commission are included for informational purposes

1481
01:49:07,990 --> 01:49:11,810
and do not involve or require specific action by the Commission.

1482
01:49:13,740 --> 01:49:15,020
Thank you, Director Williams.

1483
01:49:15,340 --> 01:49:18,280
Commissioners, are there any questions concerning the routine minute orders?

1484
01:49:19,180 --> 01:49:19,460
Okay.

1485
01:49:21,140 --> 01:49:25,300
Seeing none, may I have a motion to approve the routine minute orders in accordance with

1486
01:49:25,300 --> 01:49:26,540
Director Williams' recommendation?

1487
01:49:27,000 --> 01:49:27,960
Make a motion to approve it.

1488
01:49:28,040 --> 01:49:29,500
Commissioner Mead's moved approval.

1489
01:49:33,990 --> 01:49:36,230
Commissioner Vaughn has seconded the motion.

1490
01:49:36,450 --> 01:49:37,310
I thought it was going to die.

1491
01:49:38,930 --> 01:49:39,210
Okay.

1492
01:49:39,490 --> 01:49:41,430
All those in favor please say aye.

1493
01:49:41,430 --> 01:49:53,410
any opposed motion carries unanimously and director Williams my turn isn't it we

1494
01:49:53,410 --> 01:49:57,330
will not meet in executive session today all items on today's agenda are

1495
01:49:57,330 --> 01:50:03,150
completed is there anyone who signed up for open comment today indeed please

1496
01:50:14,130 --> 01:50:14,330
be

1497
01:50:14,330 --> 01:50:21,710
prepared and concise in your and your your remarks at this time I'd like to

1498
01:50:21,710 --> 01:50:27,750
to invite Charles Lend to come to the podium.

1499
01:50:35,650 --> 01:50:36,110
Hello, sir.

1500
01:50:36,110 --> 01:50:39,190
Chairman Lend, Charles Lino, city manager for the city of Pekos.

1501
01:50:40,390 --> 01:50:40,810
That's okay.

1502
01:50:41,410 --> 01:50:43,450
It's my riding commissioner now, and I know how that is.

1503
01:50:45,790 --> 01:50:50,190
Commissioners, thank you for giving me this time, acting director or director Williams.

1504
01:50:50,450 --> 01:50:50,770
Thank you.

1505
01:50:51,590 --> 01:50:52,290
I just came.

1506
01:50:52,710 --> 01:50:56,890
It's been a long, hard roll that we've been attempting to get done.

1507
01:50:56,890 --> 01:51:04,230
and we, there was a letter issued to our county judge on Monday and it looks like we're going

1508
01:51:04,230 --> 01:51:08,390
to go through the public hearing for the RMA so I want to really say thank you for all of the

1509
01:51:08,390 --> 01:51:14,610
sports you've had. We've been here a lot trying to advocate for it and you all have been great.

1510
01:51:16,250 --> 01:51:23,290
I look forward to seeing this through to the end and I, it's just a thank you to y'all for

1511
01:51:23,290 --> 01:51:24,930
even taking this under consideration.

1512
01:51:26,490 --> 01:51:27,150
Thank you.

1513
01:51:32,970 --> 01:51:33,430
I'm sorry.

1514
01:51:33,870 --> 01:51:39,990
At this time may I ask Nierith Golonski to come to the podium.

1515
01:51:50,130 --> 01:51:53,290
Good morning, Acting Chair, Commissioners, and Mr. Williams.

1516
01:51:53,730 --> 01:51:57,270
On behalf of the City of Brownsville, thank you for your continued support of the Rio

1517
01:51:57,270 --> 01:51:59,190
Grande Valley and our community.

1518
01:51:59,830 --> 01:52:02,810
We appreciate the opportunity to speak before you this morning.

1519
01:52:03,410 --> 01:52:07,090
My name is Nierith Golonski and I'm one of the City Commissioners at large for

1520
01:52:07,090 --> 01:52:11,850
for Brownsville. I'm here to reiterate our strong support for the East Loop

1521
01:52:11,850 --> 01:52:15,950
International Trade Corridor Project led by the Cameron County Regional

1522
01:52:15,950 --> 01:52:20,490
Mobility Authority. We recognize that this project is progressing toward

1523
01:52:20,490 --> 01:52:25,130
becoming an on-system facility and we believe this designation is essential.

1524
01:52:25,770 --> 01:52:29,250
The East Loop will not only serve the city of Brownsville but it will also

1525
01:52:29,250 --> 01:52:32,650
provide a critical connection that strengthens the transportation network

1526
01:52:32,650 --> 01:52:34,090
work for the entire state of Texas.

1527
01:52:35,070 --> 01:52:37,690
The project will link the Veterans International Bridge

1528
01:52:37,690 --> 01:52:40,230
at Los Tomates to the Port of Brownsville,

1529
01:52:40,710 --> 01:52:43,390
a port that is experiencing unprecedented growth.

1530
01:52:43,970 --> 01:52:47,450
As recently announced, American First Refining

1531
01:52:47,450 --> 01:52:52,530
plans to build a new $300 billion, 240-acre refinery

1532
01:52:52,530 --> 01:52:55,910
at the Port of Brownsville, marking the first new U.S.

1533
01:52:55,970 --> 01:52:57,630
Gulf Coast refinery in 50 years.

1534
01:52:58,410 --> 01:53:01,310
Our region has seen significant economic expansion

1535
01:53:01,310 --> 01:53:06,690
in recent years, thanks in great part to the State of Texas and the Texas Transportation Commission.

1536
01:53:07,510 --> 01:53:12,930
As this momentum continues, we respectfully request that the East Loop International Trade Corridor

1537
01:53:12,930 --> 01:53:18,590
remain a priority for the on-system designation to ensure that Texas maintains its position

1538
01:53:18,590 --> 01:53:23,310
as a national and global economic leader. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak

1539
01:53:23,310 --> 01:53:26,270
and for your ongoing commitment to our region. Nice to see you.

1540
01:53:26,270 --> 01:53:26,670
At

1541
01:53:29,260 --> 01:53:33,940
this time, I'd like to ask Christina, is it Cabral?

1542
01:53:34,720 --> 01:53:35,900
Okay, Christina Cabral.

1543
01:53:39,800 --> 01:53:40,860
Thank you so much.

1544
01:53:41,380 --> 01:53:41,700
Good to talk.

1545
01:53:41,760 --> 01:53:42,720
It's almost a good afternoon.

1546
01:53:43,500 --> 01:53:46,940
Acting Chairman New, Commissioners Vaughn, Mead,

1547
01:53:47,360 --> 01:53:48,320
Alvis, and Gordon.

1548
01:53:49,520 --> 01:53:52,380
Director Williams and the Texas staff,

1549
01:53:52,580 --> 01:53:53,740
thank you for having me here today.

1550
01:53:53,920 --> 01:53:56,800
My name is Christina Cabral and I represent TAG Houston,

1551
01:53:57,180 --> 01:53:59,380
which stands for the Transportation Advocacy Group.

1552
01:53:59,760 --> 01:54:01,020
For those who do not know who we are,

1553
01:54:01,020 --> 01:54:06,760
We are a coalition of public and private organizations that represent in the eight county area,

1554
01:54:06,840 --> 01:54:11,640
which is the Gulf Coast region, and I'm honored to be representing my membership,

1555
01:54:11,800 --> 01:54:13,860
as well as have several of our board members here today.

1556
01:54:14,980 --> 01:54:16,600
First, we have three thank yous to give.

1557
01:54:16,760 --> 01:54:21,460
First, to Commissioner Mead, who recently came and spoke to our membership with Director Franks

1558
01:54:21,460 --> 01:54:26,460
and educated on the importance of real safety and all that TextDOT is doing to help improve that.

1559
01:54:27,160 --> 01:54:30,580
Second, to Commissioner Alvis, we're excited to have you join us this fall

1560
01:54:30,580 --> 01:54:35,500
to give an annual address to our entire membership on the importance of TextDOT

1561
01:54:35,500 --> 01:54:38,580
and all that you do for our region and for our state.

1562
01:54:39,260 --> 01:54:41,600
And third, welcome, Commissioner Gordon.

1563
01:54:41,800 --> 01:54:43,780
We had the pleasure of meeting you very quickly this morning.

1564
01:54:43,840 --> 01:54:45,960
We know you've got a lot very busy right now,

1565
01:54:45,980 --> 01:54:48,140
but we're honored that you took the time to talk with us.

1566
01:54:48,420 --> 01:54:52,040
We look forward to working with you, the Commission, all of TextDOT,

1567
01:54:52,120 --> 01:54:55,200
and particularly our Houston region who we think does a great job.

1568
01:54:56,100 --> 01:54:58,520
We also want to thank you today for taking action

1569
01:54:58,520 --> 01:55:02,360
on the Grant Parkway Segment Project which, as you mentioned,

1570
01:55:02,660 --> 01:55:05,100
funds Galveston, Missouri counties, and Alvin.

1571
01:55:05,620 --> 01:55:06,900
I've been to Alvin quite a bit.

1572
01:55:07,520 --> 01:55:11,460
The funding of this project is just one more positive investment

1573
01:55:11,460 --> 01:55:14,600
to help support the explosive growth and development

1574
01:55:14,600 --> 01:55:16,800
in the Gulf Coast region which we saw today

1575
01:55:16,800 --> 01:55:18,380
with the population's presentation.

1576
01:55:18,980 --> 01:55:21,280
It will bring much needed investment in safety,

1577
01:55:21,500 --> 01:55:24,100
efficiency, and connectivity to our transportation network.

1578
01:55:24,880 --> 01:55:27,080
TAG would also like to continue seeking support

1579
01:55:27,080 --> 01:55:31,820
for our expansive Port Networks Port being plural, but particularly I'd like to

1580
01:55:31,820 --> 01:55:36,280
highlight today for the Port of Houston support for the investments in 225 and

1581
01:55:36,280 --> 01:55:41,980
146 which will allow us to continue our regional growth into sustaining

1582
01:55:41,980 --> 01:55:48,440
in sustaining the 10.6 billion in state and local tax revenue and 62.8

1583
01:55:48,440 --> 01:55:53,500
billion in national tax revenue that the Port provides. Tagging the Network

1584
01:55:53,500 --> 01:55:59,460
of Locos Regional Mobility Organizations and TEAOT, the statewide group of mobility

1585
01:55:59,460 --> 01:56:04,560
organizations, will continue to work together to educate and inform the importance of investment

1586
01:56:04,560 --> 01:56:08,220
and transportation network and continue the success of our region and our great state.

1587
01:56:08,640 --> 01:56:10,120
Thank you so much for your partnership.

1588
01:56:11,400 --> 01:56:14,220
Thank you for talking with us.

1589
01:56:15,060 --> 01:56:20,360
The next person I'd like to invite is Chad Burke to the podium, please.

1590
01:56:30,610 --> 01:56:31,610
Chairman and commissioners.

1591
01:56:31,610 --> 01:56:32,910
My name is Chad Burke.

1592
01:56:33,250 --> 01:56:38,950
I represent the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region as their President and CEO.

1593
01:56:39,690 --> 01:56:42,970
Want to bring a little bit, I'll build on what Christina said.

1594
01:56:43,930 --> 01:56:47,690
The Houston Port Region, specifically the upper reach, the 25 miles of the Houston Port

1595
01:56:47,690 --> 01:56:52,210
Region accounts for over $900 billion in economic activity.

1596
01:56:52,710 --> 01:56:57,490
It is the nation's number one port when you measure it in any form of tonnage.

1597
01:56:57,490 --> 01:57:04,730
It's the nation's number one energy port by far, and most importantly, that 25-mile stretch

1598
01:57:04,730 --> 01:57:07,810
of the Houston Ship Channel accounts for 20 percent of the state's GDP.

1599
01:57:09,130 --> 01:57:14,850
Over the last 15 years, there's been well over $100 billion in new capital investment

1600
01:57:14,850 --> 01:57:18,750
in the petrochemical and refining industries there along the Ship Channel.

1601
01:57:19,130 --> 01:57:24,970
The Shell Revolution, which we in Texas are blessed to benefit from, has made the

1602
01:57:24,970 --> 01:57:29,270
Houston Ship Channel, Houston Port Region, the largest petrochemical complex in the world.

1603
01:57:29,390 --> 01:57:35,950
We surpassed Rotterdam in production about 2019. That complex includes over 250 plants

1604
01:57:35,950 --> 01:57:45,050
and terminals and two port of Houston container terminals, which account for 95 percent of

1605
01:57:45,050 --> 01:57:48,510
the containers that come in and out of the state of Texas. So just a little bit on

1606
01:57:48,510 --> 01:57:56,690
the stats. The State Highway 225 is the corridor that traverses that region. Its current state

1607
01:57:56,690 --> 01:58:01,690
was built in the 70s and early 80s and hasn't been updated since then while we've seen this

1608
01:58:01,690 --> 01:58:09,090
explosive growth that is happening. It is woefully undersized right now for the number

1609
01:58:09,090 --> 01:58:12,210
of trucks that we see on it every day, not to mention the commuters that live and

1610
01:58:12,210 --> 01:58:16,890
work in that region and supply the workforce to those facilities. If we don't expand

1611
01:58:16,890 --> 01:58:22,730
And in Update Highway 225, we really, we, the state of Texas, put at risk hundreds of

1612
01:58:22,730 --> 01:58:25,310
billions of dollars in future economic impact.

1613
01:58:25,950 --> 01:58:30,290
Finally, I will point out, and I hope you're paying attention here in Texas, the current

1614
01:58:30,290 --> 01:58:37,130
global affairs in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz are really putting Texas in an advantage

1615
01:58:37,130 --> 01:58:39,670
spot again as far as the manufacturing of chemicals.

1616
01:58:40,010 --> 01:58:44,650
We are the only ones in the world that produce our chemicals off of natural gas

1617
01:58:44,650 --> 01:58:48,370
instead of NAFTA, which they do in Asia and Europe, and now the entire world is looking

1618
01:58:48,370 --> 01:58:48,950
at us again.

1619
01:58:49,130 --> 01:58:54,010
So production, even over the last two months, has already begun to ramp up in the Houston

1620
01:58:54,010 --> 01:58:54,570
Port region.

1621
01:58:55,910 --> 01:59:00,130
Thank you for your consideration for what I believe, and I think most agree is the

1622
01:59:00,130 --> 01:59:02,670
state's most economically impactful roadway.

1623
01:59:03,050 --> 01:59:06,010
And I encourage us to spend money where we make money as a state.

1624
01:59:06,330 --> 01:59:06,970
Thank you very much.

1625
01:59:07,670 --> 01:59:08,210
Appreciate it.

1626
01:59:08,250 --> 01:59:08,690
Thank you, sir.

1627
01:59:10,740 --> 01:59:14,340
At this time, I'd like to invite John Scott to the podium.

1628
01:59:14,340 --> 01:59:15,380
Well,

1629
01:59:19,600 --> 01:59:22,600
good morning. Thank you for your time today. I'm John Scott. I'm here

1630
01:59:22,600 --> 01:59:27,360
representing Blue Energy, a power project developer. I'm the principal project

1631
01:59:27,360 --> 01:59:33,180
manager for Blue Energy, a power project that we're targeting for the Port of

1632
01:59:33,180 --> 01:59:37,620
Victoria in Texas. I'm here with Sean Stibbitt. She's the executive director of

1633
01:59:37,620 --> 01:59:38,300
the Port of Victoria.

1634
01:59:40,560 --> 01:59:43,240
We've come to comment on the Highway 35 Bridge that

1635
01:59:43,240 --> 01:59:50,140
goes over the Victoria barge canal. This proposed modification could have a very

1636
01:59:50,140 --> 01:59:54,160
significant positive impact on our ongoing development at the Port of

1637
01:59:54,160 --> 01:59:59,580
Victoria and for future developments for our project. So the total cost of the

1638
01:59:59,580 --> 01:59:59,760
highway

1639
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:05,120
35 modification, I believe it's 45 million to raise the canal clearance and to widen it

1640
02:00:05,120 --> 02:00:11,120
significantly. This bridge update would support our plan to modularize to the

1641
02:00:11,120 --> 02:00:15,080
extent possible to significantly increase the economics of development for both our

1642
02:00:16,680 --> 02:00:20,880
shorter-term gas project and then for our longer-term nuclear development, which

1643
02:00:20,880 --> 02:00:23,520
would be going over the next decade down there for the power.

1644
02:00:25,620 --> 02:00:26,640
Our project to

1645
02:00:26,640 --> 02:00:28,900
Shovel ready, engineering design is complete.

1646
02:00:29,640 --> 02:00:30,940
We have acquired the right of ways.

1647
02:00:31,240 --> 02:00:33,140
Major gas and nuclear plant equipment

1648
02:00:33,140 --> 02:00:35,600
has already been purchased and has agreements right now

1649
02:00:35,600 --> 02:00:38,440
for delivery project financing is in place

1650
02:00:38,440 --> 02:00:40,980
and committed to the initial two phases of this project.

1651
02:00:41,800 --> 02:00:45,660
Project will bring well over 1,000 construction jobs

1652
02:00:45,660 --> 02:00:47,840
to the region, scattered over the course of 10 years,

1653
02:00:48,000 --> 02:00:49,620
but plus, even for the first two phases,

1654
02:00:49,780 --> 02:00:54,340
100 local jobs that will be over 135K a year

1655
02:00:54,340 --> 02:00:57,960
and we're coordinating with the Victoria College

1656
02:00:57,960 --> 02:01:01,100
and the Texas A&M for a supply stream of people

1657
02:01:01,100 --> 02:01:04,320
and for us to help them decide their curriculum

1658
02:01:04,320 --> 02:01:05,840
and what that flow through could be.

1659
02:01:06,180 --> 02:01:07,940
So it's really a good synergy there.

1660
02:01:08,900 --> 02:01:11,000
Project investment for the first two phases

1661
02:01:11,000 --> 02:01:15,280
which includes a gas phase for gas power

1662
02:01:15,280 --> 02:01:16,300
to get quicker to market

1663
02:01:16,300 --> 02:01:19,720
and the first five SMR small nuclear reactors

1664
02:01:19,720 --> 02:01:26,620
for the developments. It's $2.4 billion for the first phase and then it'll be a total

1665
02:01:26,620 --> 02:01:31,020
of $10 billion over the course of the entire development project. The first phase is going

1666
02:01:31,020 --> 02:01:36,500
to give us 1.3 gigawatts. The total build-out will end up with 2.5 gigawatts of power.

1667
02:01:36,860 --> 02:01:43,760
So anyway, we kind of request this bridge be included in the state's UTP plan and

1668
02:01:43,760 --> 02:01:47,420
just for the advance of the economic development and the transportation development in the

1669
02:01:47,420 --> 02:01:52,040
area. I appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. Thank you, sir, for your

1670
02:01:52,040 --> 02:01:57,980
remarks. At this time, I'd like to invite Eduardo Calvo back to the podium,

1671
02:01:58,260 --> 02:01:58,300
please.

1672
02:02:06,930 --> 02:02:11,250
Good afternoon now. Acting Chair, new commissioners, Director Williams.

1673
02:02:11,610 --> 02:02:14,390
Again, my name for the record is Eduardo Calvo, Executive Director of the

1674
02:02:14,390 --> 02:02:19,250
Opaso MPO, and thank you for the opportunity to address the commission.

1675
02:02:19,670 --> 02:02:23,570
So a couple of items that I wanted to brief you on regarding the Opaso

1676
02:02:24,190 --> 02:02:32,030
First, as we continue the development of the UTP, the fiscal year 27 UTP, wanted to call

1677
02:02:32,030 --> 02:02:37,050
out a really important project for us that has been identified as our top priority for

1678
02:02:37,050 --> 02:02:43,950
this round, which is we're calling it Phase 2 of the US-62-180 Montana Avenue project.

1679
02:02:44,710 --> 02:02:45,570
It's Phase 2.

1680
02:02:45,790 --> 02:02:49,890
The whole project is about $350 million, plus or minus.

1681
02:02:49,890 --> 02:02:56,490
The first two phases have been funded with our formula money, so in our local funds,

1682
02:02:57,410 --> 02:03:03,930
but we need help really to get phase two done, and that would complete the entire project.

1683
02:03:04,530 --> 02:03:07,610
This is a quarter that serves Fort Bliss.

1684
02:03:08,390 --> 02:03:13,910
In addition to that, it also connects to the fastest growing part in El Paso County,

1685
02:03:13,910 --> 02:03:17,930
so it's for congestion and for connectivity and for other strategic purposes.

1686
02:03:17,930 --> 02:03:19,410
if it's a really good project.

1687
02:03:21,190 --> 02:03:23,730
So it's been identified as a priority

1688
02:03:23,730 --> 02:03:25,510
by the policy board of the MPO,

1689
02:03:25,650 --> 02:03:27,550
but also by El Paso commissioners court,

1690
02:03:27,810 --> 02:03:28,890
the county commissioners court.

1691
02:03:29,470 --> 02:03:32,770
So there's pretty good documentation of that.

1692
02:03:33,750 --> 02:03:37,450
Important to say that phase two was funded at some point,

1693
02:03:37,590 --> 02:03:38,910
but because there were delays

1694
02:03:38,910 --> 02:03:42,230
in the construction of phase one strategically,

1695
02:03:42,870 --> 02:03:44,170
we work with the district,

1696
02:03:44,170 --> 02:03:50,350
with the Thomas District Engineer and the TPMD, Raul Ortega, to be strategic and move the money around.

1697
02:03:50,610 --> 02:03:57,230
You know, we didn't want to have that money sitting, so we were able to move it and get the Borderland Expressway.

1698
02:03:57,370 --> 02:04:02,830
And by the way, Peter, we got funding for that, for phase three of that project last year, so we, again, thank you for that.

1699
02:04:04,310 --> 02:04:09,250
But now it's time to put the money, the funds back into Montana phase two.

1700
02:04:09,250 --> 02:04:14,450
So that's why we're asking and identifying that as our priority.

1701
02:04:15,370 --> 02:04:20,150
The second thing I wanted to talk very briefly is the, as you know,

1702
02:04:20,210 --> 02:04:24,250
we're conducting our International Border Crossing Strategic Plan,

1703
02:04:24,710 --> 02:04:28,650
which is looking at all the six border crossings in our region as a system,

1704
02:04:28,950 --> 02:04:33,090
but this work is overlapping with tech stats, border transportation master plans.

1705
02:04:33,310 --> 02:04:38,210
So there's overlap, but we want to see this as an opportunity really to combine efforts

1706
02:04:38,210 --> 02:04:44,150
and to make sure that there's a lot of good coordination and data, gathering data analysis,

1707
02:04:44,330 --> 02:04:48,030
but more importantly with the stakeholder and the public engagement activities.

1708
02:04:48,450 --> 02:04:53,250
There's a lot of meetings and we don't want to overwhelm our stakeholders

1709
02:04:53,250 --> 02:04:57,390
with multiple meetings that could be repetitive.

1710
02:04:57,770 --> 02:05:01,830
So we conducted a meeting back in February with the tech staff folks,

1711
02:05:01,970 --> 02:05:06,570
with the Board of Master Plan folks and our folks, and I think it was a success.

1712
02:05:06,570 --> 02:05:13,530
So we really look forward to continue working together and continuing the partnership in this and other endeavors.

1713
02:05:13,950 --> 02:05:14,510
Thank you.

1714
02:05:14,930 --> 02:05:16,350
Thank you, sir, for your comments.

1715
02:05:17,390 --> 02:05:23,270
At this time, I would like to ask Barb LaFollette to come to the podium.

1716
02:05:38,560 --> 02:05:40,180
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

1717
02:05:40,920 --> 02:05:43,120
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

1718
02:05:43,400 --> 02:05:44,660
My name is Barb LaFollette.

1719
02:05:44,740 --> 02:05:47,620
I'm the president of the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association.

1720
02:05:48,960 --> 02:05:57,680
I am here to ask that you insist on a full public environmental impact statement for the proposed MOPAC South expansion.

1721
02:05:58,860 --> 02:06:06,890
CTRMA is moving ahead based on a brief internal environmental summary and a proposed finding of no significant impact

1722
02:06:07,160 --> 02:06:13,180
rather than a transparent EIS process with full public review.

1723
02:06:13,180 --> 02:06:18,940
Yet this project would add new lanes through some of Austin's most environmentally sensitive

1724
02:06:18,940 --> 02:06:22,140
areas and directly affect nearby neighborhoods.

1725
02:06:22,520 --> 02:06:26,460
And we're not talking about a small amount, we're talking about 11 acres of concrete.

1726
02:06:28,650 --> 02:06:32,970
We deserve more than a short memo and a foregone conclusion.

1727
02:06:33,550 --> 02:06:35,670
We deserve scrutiny.

1728
02:06:36,790 --> 02:06:38,370
We only get one environment.

1729
02:06:39,150 --> 02:06:40,290
There is no redo.

1730
02:06:40,290 --> 02:06:41,470
The

1731
02:06:44,640 --> 02:06:49,820
proposal is not substantially different from the MOPAC South Plan that faced major

1732
02:06:49,820 --> 02:06:57,120
community opposition and legal challenges from 2014 to 2016 when the environmental concerns

1733
02:06:57,120 --> 02:06:59,680
were serious enough to help stop the project.

1734
02:07:00,260 --> 02:07:04,720
It would be irresponsible to repeat the same approach and expect a better outcome for

1735
02:07:04,720 --> 02:07:07,400
our residents, our water, and our green spaces.

1736
02:07:08,620 --> 02:07:13,560
I'm not asking you to take a position for or against the expansion today.

1737
02:07:13,980 --> 02:07:20,200
I'm asking you to require a full public environmental impact statement before any decision is made.

1738
02:07:20,580 --> 02:07:21,020
That's all.

1739
02:07:23,410 --> 02:07:30,310
Please use your authority to demand real transparency and a robust evaluation of environmental and

1740
02:07:30,310 --> 02:07:31,190
neighborhood impacts.

1741
02:07:31,950 --> 02:07:35,070
Thank you very much for your time and consideration of this matter.

1742
02:07:35,610 --> 02:07:37,530
And thank you very much for your service.

1743
02:07:37,530 --> 02:07:39,830
Thank you for your remarks.

1744
02:07:40,510 --> 02:07:40,730
Thank you.

1745
02:07:42,920 --> 02:07:47,600
At this time, I'd like to invite Tom Clemens to the podium, please.

1746
02:07:53,190 --> 02:07:54,030
Good afternoon.

1747
02:07:55,010 --> 02:08:00,890
I'm Tom Clemens, a representative of a company named Lithtech, a material provider.

1748
02:08:02,490 --> 02:08:08,950
I speak to Texas DOT and all the DOTs in the United States and the cities and counties

1749
02:08:08,950 --> 02:08:09,650
in this regard.

1750
02:08:09,650 --> 02:08:17,750
I'd like to talk to you about a process, a process that's used to rebuild failed roads.

1751
02:08:18,410 --> 02:08:26,290
The process is called full depth reclamation, or FDR, fairly catchy acronym, FDR.

1752
02:08:27,090 --> 02:08:33,930
When testing shows FDR to be the right tool for the job, it creates a longer lasting

1753
02:08:33,930 --> 02:08:41,410
road at lower cost than traditional rebuilding with a much faster construction

1754
02:08:41,410 --> 02:08:47,770
process. It's based on 100% recycling of the failed road in place. Therefore the

1755
02:08:47,770 --> 02:08:53,390
past investment in the road in terms of the existing materials is restored to

1756
02:08:53,390 --> 02:08:59,610
create a new and much more resilient road base that results in greater

1757
02:08:59,610 --> 02:09:06,210
longevity and lower maintenance cost over time. The construction process of

1758
02:09:06,210 --> 02:09:13,570
recycling removes thousands of trucks, congesting being a big priority of

1759
02:09:13,570 --> 02:09:19,650
textile. Those trucks that would normally bring to and carry away materials

1760
02:09:19,650 --> 02:09:24,730
to rebuild that road, thus creating a much safer project with less congestion

1761
02:09:24,730 --> 02:09:27,010
and fewer work zones.

1762
02:09:29,370 --> 02:09:31,550
I've heard Mark Williams say many times,

1763
02:09:32,070 --> 02:09:34,250
good stewardship is good business.

1764
02:09:36,480 --> 02:09:41,420
It's amazing how often I hear past names of tech stock

1765
02:09:41,420 --> 02:09:44,520
employees come up who have helped me very much

1766
02:09:44,520 --> 02:09:46,660
and understand this process and the significance.

1767
02:09:47,700 --> 02:09:51,600
Bill Hale, Lance Simmons, in terms of safety,

1768
02:09:51,760 --> 02:09:54,620
Lance pointed out to me, if you

1769
02:09:54,620 --> 02:10:02,390
longer lasting road than you reduce work zones dramatically. Work zones

1770
02:10:02,390 --> 02:10:05,830
contribute anywhere from 5 to 10 percent to our fatalities.

1771
02:10:11,730 --> 02:10:12,830
I also want to point

1772
02:10:12,830 --> 02:10:16,970
out the maintenance division has two teams who are doing full depth

1773
02:10:16,970 --> 02:10:20,070
reclamation as a capability working with districts.

1774
02:10:22,720 --> 02:10:23,900
I don't want to be

1775
02:10:23,900 --> 02:10:30,740
overly dramatic but as Mark detailed in January we have a budget reduction

1776
02:10:30,740 --> 02:10:35,360
coming that could be as much as one and a half to two billion dollars, yet we have

1777
02:10:35,360 --> 02:10:42,560
a bigger job to do than ever before. How do you do more with less? Efficiency

1778
02:10:42,560 --> 02:10:48,240
and innovation. I've literally waited probably two years to make these

1779
02:10:48,240 --> 02:10:54,440
comments. Commissioner Alvis pointed out last week the permitting productivity

1780
02:10:54,440 --> 02:10:59,220
with gain. Commissioner New pointed out the fatality rates that have gone down.

1781
02:10:59,220 --> 02:11:04,820
and then area near and dear to me the design side division director pipe

1782
02:11:04,820 --> 02:11:13,740
talked about the evolution of 3d modeling in closing what I want to

1783
02:11:13,740 --> 02:11:18,960
encourage is you to encourage the district engineers to look at pilot

1784
02:11:18,960 --> 02:11:24,480
projects for full depth reclamation they make these decisions they're they're

1785
02:11:24,480 --> 02:11:28,860
accountable responsible and I think that's where you could help the most

1786
02:11:30,100 --> 02:11:34,940
Our largest user in the United States is Union Pacific Railroad.

1787
02:11:35,120 --> 02:11:36,820
We heard railroads talk about a lot.

1788
02:11:37,280 --> 02:11:44,620
All related to a business decision and greater productivity to stretch their budget dollars the furthest.

1789
02:11:44,980 --> 02:11:45,680
Thank you very much.

1790
02:11:45,940 --> 02:11:47,560
Thank you. Thank you for your remarks.

1791
02:11:56,880 --> 02:12:00,860
Thank you for those of you that came to make public remarks.

1792
02:12:01,220 --> 02:12:04,600
And at this time, is there any other business to come before the commission?

1793
02:12:05,680 --> 02:12:08,920
Okay, there being none, is there a motion to adjourn?

1794
02:12:09,340 --> 02:12:10,600
Like motion to adjourn.

1795
02:12:10,860 --> 02:12:12,700
Commissioner Mead has moved to adjourn.

1796
02:12:12,820 --> 02:12:13,520
May I have a second?

1797
02:12:13,840 --> 02:12:13,960
Second.

1798
02:12:14,380 --> 02:12:14,840
Second.

1799
02:12:15,300 --> 02:12:16,260
Commissioner Vaughn has seconded.

1800
02:12:16,340 --> 02:12:17,720
All in favor please say aye.

1801
02:12:18,060 --> 02:12:18,340
Aye.

1802
02:12:18,900 --> 02:12:19,500
Any opposed?

1803
02:12:20,480 --> 02:12:22,600
The motion carries and we are adjourned.

1804
02:12:24,340 --> 02:12:29,720
And please note for the record that it is 10, 12, 13.

1805
02:12:29,720 --> 02:12:30,300
12, 13.

1806
02:12:30,360 --> 02:12:31,280
12, 13.