2 of state's top guns to remake state Transportation Department

Jul 29, 2010 — Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Gordon Dickson

Jul. 29, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Two of the state's best-known governmental troubleshooters are setting up shop in Austin to revamp the often-criticized Texas Department of Transportation.

"Our mission is pretty straightforward: to modernize this agency and maximize efficiency and do all we can to secure transportation infrastructure in this state," Jay Kimbrough told members of the Texas Transportation Commission during a workshop Wednesday .

Kimbrough, a longtime adviser to Gov. Rick Perry who helped reform the Texas Youth Commission and the biodefense program at Texas A&M University, will receive over $303,000 for 14 months revamping the agency. He's working under contract with A&M's Texas Transportation Institute, officials said.

His partner will be Howard Wolf, an Austin lawyer and close associate of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Wolf, who will donate his time, served two terms on the state's sunset advisory committee, which reviews agencies periodically to determine whether they're still relevant.

Kimbrough and Wolf will work from an office in the Sam Houston Building, next to the Capitol and about three blocks north of the Greer Building, the Transportation Department headquarters.

Kimbrough will oversee the department day to day, and Wolf will act as chief executive, Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows of Fort Worth said.

The five-member commission sought outside help after a scathing report released in May called not only for a dramatic change in the department's day-to-day management of road funds and projects, but also for a cultural shift in its attitude toward lawmakers and the public.

Lawmakers have criticized the agency for being untruthful about its finances and for forcing toll roads and other projects such as the now-defunct Trans Texas Corridor on communities that don't want them. But agency officials have said they're simply trying to make the best of increasingly bad finances,which if unchanged will leave the state unable to build any roads after 2012.

The commission will hold its monthly meeting today in Austin. On Wednesday, commissioners also:

Learned that the final version of the Texas Rail Plan, a blueprint for vastly improving passenger and freight service statewide during the next two decades, should be ready by October, according to agency rail director Bill Glavin of Southlake.

Learned that Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway and Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Railroad had agreed to jointly contribute more than $50 million to the Tower 55 project near downtown Fort Worth. Their previous offer had been just over $30 million.

Gordon Dickson,

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