TxDOT says outsourcing highway maintenance could save millions, but previous pilot pr

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...s-2449900.html

TxDOT says outsourcing highway maintenance could save millions, but previous pilot project fell flat

By Ben Wear
Published: 7:40 p.m. Monday, Sept. 3, 2012

Based on assumed savings from a five-year pilot project that began this summer, the Texas Department of Transportation is considering outsourcing all routine maintenance on long stretches of Texas interstate highways, including much of Interstate 35. The agency has touted the potential savings as high as $120 million over five years.

TxDOT has presented the pilot as a fresh concept and a success even in its infancy, but the agency has experimented as early as 1999 with having private companies take over all maintenance of parts of I-35 and Interstate 20. And the results of that program were "extremely disappointing," according to legislative testimony by TxDOT's former executive director.

Amadeo Saenz, who retired last year as TxDOT chief, told the Legislature in 2005 that the pavement condition of 120 miles of I-35 and 60 miles of I-20 deteriorated during a more than four-year period of the turnkey maintenance contract. The contractor often failed to perform scheduled work, and Saenz said oversight of the Virginia company took more management time and effort than was needed previously when TxDOT employees were doing the work.