TxDOT evaluating how regional centers could streamline business

By Bob Colwell

AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation is looking at ways to improve its operations.

To streamline the department’s statewide business operations, TxDOT is considering the creation of four Regional Support Centers to house support functions currently located in 25 districts across Texas.

“The consolidation of support functions could create a more efficient working environment and generate a cost savings estimated at $35 million,” said Amadeo Saenz, TxDOT executive director.

TxDOT is planning to refine its statewide structure to ensure the department is organized to best meet the transportation needs of a changing and growing state, Saenz said.

The regional centers could be located in Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Lubbock.

Each center would support the district design, construction and maintenance operations, with districts aligned into the support centers based on regional proximity.

Saenz stressed that the restructuring would not result in a reduction of services at the district level.

“TxDOT would not cut services to the public,” he said. “Our goal is to provide services in a way that is smarter and less expensive.

“Our local offices would continue to operate, concentrating on our core business functions of construction, design and maintenance.”

Opening of the RSCs could mean that job locations and functional assignments could change for some employees in districts and divisions.

To make the transition easier, TxDOT will use modern “virtual office” technology to allow some employees to continue to work from current office locations even though their job functions are aligned with a regional office in another city, Saenz said.

“The objective is to operate more efficiently — to improve productivity and save taxpayer dollars,” Saenz said. “Our employees are important to us, and we will work closely with them to minimize the impact these changes have on employees and their families.”

Saenz added that employee flexibility and willingness to share the responsibility for creating a modern agency structure are keys to the success of this reorganization.

“I am confident that our employees are up to the task,” he said.

Saenz added that Phase I of the reorganization could start as early as this September and take about a year to complete.

Though the restructuring is estimated to result in a reduction in about 600 job positions, Saenz said that TxDOT employee counts statewide are already at the anticipated level needed to complete the first phase of restructuring.

A reduction in hiring and normal attrition and retirements are expected to minimize the need to reduce the number of TxDOT employees, Saenz said.

“This is not just about cost-savings,” Saenz said. “This new direction is a response to major changes that have taken place in our business model in recent years.

“A lot of the work we do extends across districts. Those boundaries are becoming less defined, reducing the limitations on district lines and moving us closer to a seamless business environment.”

As part of the regionalization study, Saenz said TxDOT is evaluating the right of way and environmental departments, two key areas in the highway construction process.

“That will make our planning process more open to the public because citizens will only have to check in with one office to find out what’s happening up and down an entire corridor,” he said.

Phase II — the restructuring of the divisions and offices in Austin — could begin next year and be completed in 2010.

“These departments will be restructured in a way that is responsive to the Sunset Review and the actions of the upcoming 81st Legislature,” Saenz said.

The four regional offices will support the following district offices: North — Dallas, Fort Worth, Tyler, Wichita Falls, Paris, Atlanta, Waco, Brownwood

South — San Antonio

Yoakum, Pharr, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Laredo, Austin

East — Houston, Beaumont, Bryan, Lufkin, Houston

West — Lubbock

Abilene, Amarillo, Childress, El Paso, Lubbock, Odessa, San Angelo.



Bob Colwell is public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Bryan Distict.

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