Long-Term Problems and Opportunities

Q&A with John Barton, TxDOT’s assistant executive director for engineering operations.

Texas Construction: How do the immediate problems and the long-term challenges that TxDOT faces differ?

John Barton, assistant executive director for engineering operations, TxDOT

John Barton: Our immediate short-term planning processes are focused on how do we do what’s absolutely necessary and how do we prioritize what we’re doing in light of our current financial situation. We’re having to strategize and prioritize where we spend our limited resources to make sure we have a safe system that’s well maintained and that starts to address the congestion that’s strangling our urbanized communities within the state.

As we move into the future, we know that our traditional systems for providing for the transportation infrastructure aren’t sufficient and will become less and less dependable. So we’ll be thinking more about alternative means of financing projects, alternative modes of transportation for providing movement of people and goods, and the environmental side of things.

TC: What types of alternative financing are under consideration?

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JB: There are several ideas being considered. What would happen if we indexed the gas tax here in Texas? Should we look at a per-mile-driven fee rather than a per-gallon fuel tax as the efficiency of our fleet improves? Are our registration fees for vehicles at a reasonable level in comparison to other states or should we alter them to provide additional revenues?We believe the Legislature has made good decisions in providing us with alternative revenue streams, whether that’s through Proposition 14 bond revenues or through the potential Proposition 12 bond revenues. We also have the public/private partnerships that are available to us where private equity and capital can be brought to the table to provide much needed transportation infrastructure.

Not any one [tool] individually is the solution to the dilemma, but all of them are good tools that have their proper place and their proper use.

TC: What impact will bond programs and other alternative financing have on TxDOT’s future budgets?

JB: The benefit of [these types of projects] is that they provide a much-needed asset now, rather than waiting until we had the money saved up to buy in the future. If you have to wait five, 10, 15 years before you can invest in a project, the cost of inflation requires that the project be scaled down tremendously if you’re going to do it for the same amount of dollars. So we can spend $10 million on a project today that the same $10 million wouldn’t buy five years from now.

We are accelerating our program, and we’ve done that in the last few years, and we’ll continue to do that this year and the next couple of years. But at some point in time, short of some type of change in our funding stream, we’ll just be making payments on the projects that we have on the ground rather than delivering new added capacity projects in the future.

TC: Will there be more spending on public transportation?

JB: I think you’ll see as a state and a nation that we will focus more on public transportation, whether that’s commuter rail, bus rapid transit, traditional bus systems or light-rail facilities. The cost of fuel, the level of congestion that our system is facing and the investment that’s coming into the infrastructure all combine to indicate that we as a state will be talking more about public transportation.

TC: What opportunities do you see for contractors?

JB: The role that the contractors play is basically twofold. One is to help us identify technologies and practices that help us get the biggest value for the investment that we are making.

The other thing that contractors need to do is to help us start looking at new and innovative ways to approach projects in terms of setting up the contracts and paying for them. They can help us evaluate what are the best financial models to use in developing and delivering transportation so they are the most cost-effective.