Ongoing record series? Yes
Annual accumulation: unknown
Agency holdings: This is just a small part of the agency's
reports series covering a single type of report, consisting
of two cubic ft.
Description:
This series consists of feasibility analyses or studies undertaken
by the Texas Turnpike Authority and later the Texas Turnpike
Authority Division of the Texas Department of Transportation
for building or altering roads or bridges that would ease traffic
congestion or provide new avenues of access to a particular
area, and generate revenue to offset the construction costs.
Dates covered are 1972, 1976, 1978-1979, 1985-1986, 1989-1990,
1996-1997, 2000, 2003, and 2005. Consultants prepared most,
if not all of the studies. Feasibility studies were typically
prepared at the request of local or regional authorities for
long-range transportation planning goals. Types of studies undertaken
include Bolivar Channel crossing feasibility analysis, initial
assessment of Houston tollways, proposal for a statewide toll
collection system, toll rate study of the Houston Ship channel
bridge, exploratory investigations of the Offatts Bayou Bridge,
proposed development of State Highway 45 toll road and the US
183-A toll road, and others. Information found in the studies
can include cost analysis and revenue projections, environmental
impact data, maps of proposed routes, structural analysis of
affected structures, traffic capacity analysis, shipping lane
studies, technical drawings, and the scope of the construction.
Staff at the agency could not say if all of these studies resulted
in completed or even accepted projects. Some projects were undertaken
by the department, such as the construction of State Highway
45 and US 183-A toll roads in central Texas.
Purpose:
Feasibility analyses were typically prepared at the request
of local or regional authorities for long-range transportation
planning goals.
Agency program:
The Texas Department of Transportation, in cooperation with
local and regional officials, is responsible for planning, designing,
building, operating and maintaining the state's transportation
system. This involves the planning, designing, and right-of-way
acquisition of state highways and other modes of transportation,
plus transportation research to save lives and money; highway
and bridge construction, and airport improvements; the maintenance
of roadways, bridges, airports, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway,
and ferry systems; public transportation, vehicle titles and
registration, vehicle dealer registration, motor carrier registration,
traffic safety, traffic information, and auto theft prevention.
The Texas Highway Department was created in 1917 (House Bill
2, 35th Legislature, Regular Session) to stimulate building
and improvement of roads throughout the state. The Federal Aid
Road Act of July 11, 1916 (39 Stat. 355; 16 U.S.C. 503; 23 U.S.C.
15, 48), signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, initiated
federal aid for highways with the requirement that each state
receiving aid have a state highway department that controlled
the building of roads. The Department was to administer federal
funds to counties for state highway construction and maintenance
and to provide for state motor vehicle registration, fees from
which were to generate the state's required matching funds.
The department began operation on June 4, 1917. After gathering
information at public hearings over that summer the commission
proposed an 8,865-mile state highway network. Further influence
from the national level came with the Federal Highway Act of
1921, which required state highway departments to control the
design, construction and maintenance of roads rather than Texas'
practice of allowing counties to undertake the work themselves
with oversight from department engineers.
In 1969, the Legislature created the Texas Mass Transportation
Commission (House Bill 738, 61st Legislature, Regular Session)
to develop public mass transportation in Texas. This agency
was merged with the Highway Department in 1975, creating the
State Department of Highways and Public Transportation (Senate
Bill 761, 64th Legislature, Regular Session). An executive order
of May 1976 transferred the Governor's Office of Traffic Safety
to the Department. The Texas Department of Transportation was
created in 1991 (House Bill 9, 72nd Legislature, 1st Called
Session), merging the Texas State Department of Highways and
Public Transportation, the Texas Department of Aviation (created
as the Texas Aeronautics Commission in 1945, name changed to
Texas Board of Aviation in 1989); and the Texas Motor Vehicle
Commission (created in 1971). In 1997 the Texas Turnpike Authority
merged with the Texas Department of Transportation (Senate Bill
370, 75th Legislature, Regular Session).
The Texas Department of Transportation's governing body is
the Texas Transportation Commission, originally composed of
three-members, increased to five in 2003 (Senate Bill 409, 78th
Texas Legislature, Regular Session). Commissioners are representatives
of the general public appointed by the governor with advice
and consent of the senate for overlapping six-year terms. Since
2003, one of the members must represent rural Texas. The positions
are part-time salaried positions, and the chair (appointed by
the governor) was originally called the commissioner of transportation;
since 2003, each member is referred to as a commissioner.
The Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) Division strives to improve
mobility and safety through the development and operation of
a safe, reliable and cost-effective system of toll roads using
private-sector partners and financing options to accelerate
project delivery. It is responsible for feasibility studies,
design, construction, operation, and maintenance of tolled turnpikes,
bridges, and tunnels at locations with high traffic volume.
A TTA Board exists, consisting of six members appointed by the
governor as well as the chair of the Texas Transportation Commission
as an ex-officio member. Board members serve staggered six-year
terms and are independent of the Transportation Commission.
Sources include: Guide to Texas State Agencies, 11th edition
(2001); An Informal History of the Texas Department of Transportation,
Hilton Hagan, 2000 (previously available on the TXDOT Website,
the link has since been removed) and divisional administrative
information, found at http://www.dot.state.tx.us/about_us/,
accessed in June 2008.)
Arrangement:
Reports are arranged by project.
Access constraints: None
Use constraints: None
Indexes or finding aids required for/or an aid to access? None
Problems: None known
Known related records in other agencies: None known
Previous destructions:
Destruction requests on file in the Archives and Information
Services Division of the Library and Archives Commission were
checked none were found for this series or for equivalent or
related series.
Publications based on records: Unknown
Internet pages based on records: Not at this time
Series data from agency schedule: or Suggested series from
state Records Retention Schedule:
Title: Reports and studies
Series item number: 1.1.067
Agency item number: ADM09
Archival code: R
Retention: 3
Archival holdings:
We do not have any other series of feasibility studies. We do
have one series of Texas Turnpike Authority records:
Texas Turnpike Authority, Minutes, 1978-1996, bulk 1980-1996,
0.94 cubic ft.
Texas Documents Collection holdings:
According to agency staff, these were not sent to the State
Publications Depository.
Gaps: None known
Appraisal decision:
This series consists of feasibility studies undertaken by the
Texas Turnpike Authority and later the Turnpike Authority Division
of the Texas Department of Transportation for building or altering
roads or bridges that would ease traffic congestion or provide
new avenues of access to a particular area, and generate revenue
to offset the construction costs. The studies vary in scope
but all provide useful and sometimes valuable information about
the area being studied, especially when discussing impacts to
the environment, analyzing structural changes, or discussing
other changes to the area if the proposed project were undertaken.
These could provide some valuable insight into the planning
processes of regional or local areas; they could also provide
a historical analysis of areas affected. Even though it is possible
some of the projects were never undertaken, the studies show
how the area existed at that point in time. I recommend we accept
these reports and future feasibility studies of this nature
from the agency. Because this is just one type of report present
in the reports and studies series we cannot make an absolute
archival determination on this series. It will need to retain
its archival code of "R."
The appraisal recommendation was approved and reports were
transferred to the State Archives.
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