TxDOT Works to Improve Communication With New Podcast, Management Center

The historic Pecos River Bridge on U.S. 90 gets facelift, a data recording project uses an asphalt-to-concrete-to-asphalt pavement strip, and Austin Bridge & Road converts Lubbock's Spur 327 into a freeway.

Esperanza "Hope" Andrade of San Antonio was named interim chair of the Texas Transportation Commission for a term to expire at the governor's discretion. The commission oversees the statewide activities of the Texas Department of Transportation.

Andrade has served on the commission since 2003. She was previously appointed to the Texas Turnpike Commission, which was merged into the Texas Department of Transportation. Andrade also served on Via Metropolitan Transit and the Free Trade Alliance.

Andrade replaced Ric Williamson, who died in December.

TxDOT Creates Podcast Programs on Transportation Topics

The Texas Department of Transportation has created a podcast program. Through its KeepTexasMoving.com Web site, TxDOT is offering a weekly podcast covering a wide variety of statewide transportation-related topics.

The statewide podcast is part of TxDOT's efforts to find new ways to communicate transportation issues. Each statewide podcast episode is a weekly talk-radio-style audio program downloadable from the Internet. Statewide podcasts will be less than 10 minutes long and feature an interview with an expert in a transportation-related field.

Five episodes of the statewide podcast are currently available, including the most recentepisode in which Texas Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton spoke on the Town Hall Meeting tour, which includes the area impacted by the I-69/TTC project study corridor.

Find the statewide podcast at http://keeptexasmoving.com/index.php/podcast

Find the Tyler District podcast at http://www.dot.state.tx.us/news/tyl_podcasts.htm

All TxDOT podcasts are also available on iTunes, search keyword: txdot.

TxDOT Opens New Transportation Management Center in Mesquite

TxDOT recently announced the opening of its newest $10 million transportation management center at 4625 East U.S. Hwy 80 in Mesquite called DalTrans.

In the past decade, the heart of traffic operations for the Dallas area--which includes monitoring more than 1,000 sq mi and more than 30 cities--was housed in a building of less than 2,200 sq ft.

The new 54,000-sq-ft facility expands DalTrans' capabilities and becomes the central traffic operations center for all highway management and intelligent transportation system integration.

DalTrans' complete intelligent transportation system includes approximately 200 TxDOT cameras along more than 100 mi of roadway.

Data Recording System Part of U.S. 84 Project

Motorists traveling along U.S. 84 west of Slaton may have noticed a section of roadway that changes from asphalt to concrete then back to asphalt. The 500-ft strips of concrete pavement are part of a new weigh-in motion system that will allow TxDOT to collect data to be used to improve roadway design and performance.

As vehicles drive over the system, plates installed at the end of the concrete section will measure and record each vehicle's speed, length and weight. The data collected will be used for pavement design and planning.

The WIM system is part of a $14.5 million project to rehabilitate 16.5 mi of U.S. 84, from Spur 331 to FM 400.

US 90 Pecos River Bridge Rehabilitation Project

A rehabilitation of the Pecos River Bridge on U.S. 90 began in March at a cost of $4.2 million. Connecticut-based SRC Construction Inc. will provide construction for the project.

The Pecos River Bridge is on U.S. Hwy 90, 45 mi northeast of Del Rio near Langtry. The bridge, built in 1957, is 1,300 ft long and stands 270 ft above water.

TxDOT Starts Spur 327 Project to Turn Facility Into Freeway

Construction has started on a project that will provide the Lubbock community with a limited access freeway facility along Spur 327 from the South Loop to the Brownfield Highway (U.S. 62/82).

The Spur project will be built in two phases. Plans call for building main lanes and rebuilding the frontage road system along the stretch, and constructing a concrete intersection in preparation for a future interchange that will be built in the second phase of the project. The second phase includes extending main lanes and building an interchange at U.S. 62/82 and the Spur.

The contractor is Austin Bridge and Road. Project cost is $23.5 million. Completion date is estimated for late 2008 or early 2009.