TxDOT's Budget Breakdown

Dear Editor,
    How many TxDOT engineers does it take to put up a stop sign? A bunch, according to Bob Daigh, TxDOT’s Austin district engineer. At a Hays County Commissioners Court workshop on Tuesday, Daigh presented data showing for every tax dollar spent on Texas roads, TxDOT keeps an incredible 24 cents just to sustain its organization. Forty-one cents is used to maintain existing roads and thirty-five cents for constructing new roads. TxDOT spends only 9 cents more for new road construction in Texas than it spends on TxDOT. Major road maintenance and new road construction are not performed by TxDOT; they are outsourced.
    This 24% organizational expenditure is referred to as overhead. With 15,000 employees it's no wonder TxDOT’s overhead is so high. In her Jan. 12, 2001, Review of the Texas Department of Transportation, Carole Keeton Rylander, then Texas comptroller of public accounts, wrote, “TxDOT too often defends its antiquated practices and thinking instead of building the roads its customers are demanding.”
    TxDOT can’t legally lobby the Legislature, but its road-building friends can lobby on TxDOT’s behalf. With a 24% overhead, it’s clear why TxDOT supports toll roads.