AASHTO Journal, 31 August 2012
The Texas Department of Transportation is expanding a successful pilot program that has proven to save TxDOT millions of dollars.
TxDOT announced Monday it plans to issue a Request for Information to private sector businesses to perform routine maintenance on portions of Interstate 35 and Interstate 45 (between Dallas and Houston and Dallas and San Antonio). This news comes after the success of a pilot project in Houston, where a private contractor bid a maintenance contract that saved the state approximately $10 million, which amounted to almost 30 percent of what the work would have cost traditionally.
“TxDOT is working many angles to create value and better efficiencies for our tax dollars,” said TxDOT Executive Director Phil Wilson in a statement. “Every opportunity to deliver high quality work and save money means more work can be performed to maintain a safe transportation system for the traveling public.”
By opening up the contract to the private sector, TxDOT estimates show the state could save more than $90 million of maintenance contract work on just these highways per year and saving TxDOT $120 million in five years. The money saved would then be diverted to other maintenance work.
The maintenance work TxDOT means to bid out includes tasks such as roadside mowing, litter removal, sign replacement, pothole fixes, and minor resurfacing. By bidding this work out to the private sector, TxDOT maintenance workers would then be able to focus on higher-priority work.
TxDOT officials expect to issue the RFI for all interested parties in the next few weeks.