Transportation Commissioner Criticizes TxDOT
State lawmakers have their own special vocabulary for describing the Texas Department of Transportation: Intractable. Defensive. Secretive. Broken.
Bill Meadows knows what they're getting at. “I don’t think we are fully succeeding,” says Meadows, a non-combative voice on the five-member Transportation Commission. “On our very best day we probably are getting a ‘C’.” If you listen to state legislators, even that constitutes grade inflation.
Meadows is hopeful systemic change can come from the top. As a newer commissioner with little political baggage — the Fort Worth businessman was appointed to TxDOT in 2008 — he has watched the relationship between ...
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Ouija
Interesting story, but it totally ignored the issue of the statewide road-building lobby, construction empires such as Zachry, the engineers, and legal, bond and finance firms.
The story mentioned that some employees were aghast at the idea that meetings would be open to the public, when Meadows suggested the agency conduct day-long workshops to explain its business and plans in detail. Hint: perhaps they weren't aghast only because of their insulated nature within the agency, it's an insulated nature within the "industry" itself. Transparency means lower costs, lower bids and that's bad for the businesses who recycle agency employees into their roster once they retire.
Left hand, meet right hand. Transparency within TxDOT threatens the end of a long, deep money trench. Sure, more money is needed for roads, but how much? If you ask an alcoholic how much wine we need for next week's party, he'll give you a different number than the average person.