Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Bruce Bugg Jr. remembers the marching order he got when Governor Greg Abbott appointed him nearly nine years ago: Move dirt for building highways. “And, by golly, that's exactly what we're doing. So, my report to you today is to tell you that the dirt is flying all over the state of Texas right now,” Bugg told AGC of Texas members at their January lunch meeting at Austin’s Hyatt Regency. “Our whole motto is connecting you to Texas. We can't do that without each of you out there helping build our roads, bridges, or highways and maintaining all those roads, bridges, and highways. So, we very much embrace the concept of partnership between the Texas Department of Transportation and AGC of Texas members,” he said. The San Antonio banker rattled off statistics underscoring the significant funding increase since Abbott took office in 2015, while, at the same time, Texas voters approved historic investments in highway funding. “We place a priority on making sure that rural Texas is taken care of by the Texas Department of Transportation,” Bugg said. But the state’s congested highways are in urban areas, which Abbott highlighted during his first gubernatorial campaign by noting he could move faster in a wheelchair than traffic inching its way along a Dallas highway. The state’s five largest cities (Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin) represent 68 percent of the Texas population. More than $67 billion in urban projects are completed, currently under construction, or on the drawing board for development, Bugg said. Those projects aim to address the state’s top 100 most congested choke points. Texas voters get credit for the large highway funding increase. Overwhelming support for highway funding increases in the 2014 and 2015 elections triggered the historic investment levels. Those two ballot propositions already have contributed $33 billion for highway funding – and now account for 48 percent of the state’s highway funding. “So, we can't do what we're doing without the support of the Texas voters. But we owe a responsibility to the Texas voters to take those precious taxpayer dollars and put them into projects,” Bugg said. The Prop 1 and Prop 7 highway funding sources help Texas avoid building more toll roads as is happening in other states given the continuing decline in traditional gas tax revenue. The last federal gas tax increase came in 1993. Texas has not increased the state gas tax since 1991. To become more transparent with taxpayers, Bugg pointed out a new feature on the txdot.gov website showing the agency’s monthly sources of income. The cash flow-type statement will show assets and liabilities, such as monthly construction costs. Bugg credited AGC of Texas CEO Jennifer Woodard for helping shape the new disclosure. The transportation chairman acknowledged that some Texans clamor for more bike and pedestrian lanes and better transit. But Bugg emphasized that 93 percent of Texans use either a car or a truck every day: “So ladies and gentlemen, that means we need to serve the 93 percent of Texans that need these highways and roads and bridges throughout the state of Texas.” Industry safety remains an ongoing issue for both construction crews and the traveling public, Bugg said. Construction hazards and the presence of heavy machinery obligate full-time attention to workplace safety, he said. Once the highway or bridge project is completed, TxDOT then has “to worry about the safety of the Texas drivers.” Safety components are now part of every project to engineer safety into the design and construction of new roads, highways, and bridges to reduce traffic fatalities. More than $17 billion in the 2025 UTP will focus on safety, he said. But he also borrowed a Forrest Gump line (“Stupid is as stupid does”) to underscore the responsibility of drivers. TxDOT leaders keep pleading for people to use seatbelts, avoid distractions like phones while driving, decrease speed, and not to drink and drive. Bugg emphasized the important relationship between TxDOT and AGC of Texas “working every day on building these projects ...I have gotten to be really good friends with many of you in the audience. And I appreciate those friendships. And we're going to continue to work to build those friendships and continue to work to build that partnership because that's exactly what we need.”
The state has not had a traffic-fatality free day since November 7, 2000.
