TxDOT History: 2000 to 1971

The Texas Legislature established the Texas Highway Department in 1917. This timeline lists major milestones and events during our history.

Present to 2001 | 2000 to 1971 | 1970 to 1951
1950 to 1931 | Through 1930

1998

• Congress passes Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century. Known as TEA-21, it guarantees Texas a 90.5 percent return on federal motor-fuel tax dollars paid from Texas.

1997

• The Texas Turnpike Authority merges into TxDOT as a division. Independent of TxDOT, North Texas Turnpike Authority assumes responsibility for toll projects in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.
• November 5 – Historical marker telling the TxDOT story is dedicated outside the Greer Building to mark the 80th birthday of the department.

1995

• Legislature moves the Automobile Theft Prevention Authority to TxDOT. Responsibility for railroad planning and motor-carrier regulation is transferred from the Railroad Commission to TxDOT. Legislature also abolishes the High Speed Rail Authority.
• Designed to carry more than 200,000 vehicles a day, the Fred Hartman Bridge opens in the Houston District. The $95 million span across the Houston Ship Channel replaces the four-decade-old Baytown Tunnel. The bridge’s unique double-diamond towers are designed to withstand hurricane force winds.
• December 8 – Speed limit returns to 70 mph.

1992

• A six-mile section of Interstate 27 is opened in the Lubbock District, marking the completion of Texas’ 3,200 miles of interstate highway in Texas.
• September – Maribel Jaso becomes TxDOT’s first female district engineer, assuming management of the Abilene District.

1991

• Legislature passes House Bill 9 merging the Department of Aviation and the Motor Vehicle Commission into the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, renaming the agency the Texas Department of Transportation.
• Congress passes the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991. The new six-year transportation bill encourages more emphasis on safety, connectivity and pedestrian-bicycle traffic.
• Legislature establishes the Automobile Theft Prevention Authority.
• Legislature raises gas tax five cents to 20 cents a gallon.

1987

• Lawmakers increase gas tax to 15 cents a gallon.

1986

• January 1 – The first Don’t Mess with Texas television commercial airs during the Cotton Bowl game. The spot features guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.

1985

• May – The Adopt-a-Highway program begins with the Tyler Civitan Club taking over litter collection along a two-mile section of U.S. 69.

1984

• Gas tax raised five cents to 10 cents a gallon.
• July – Historic U.S. 66, more popularly known in song and story as “Route 66,” is replaced by Interstate 40. TxDOT sells the remaining U.S. 66 signs at auction in Austin.

1982

• December – Surveying right of way for an expansion of FM 1431 near Leander in Williamson County, department archeologist Mike Davis discovers the skeleton of a woman. Carbon testing shows the bones to be 9,000 years old. Dubbed the “Leanderthal Lady,” the skeleton and associated artifacts prove to be the archeological find of the decade.

1981

• October 21 – The Highway Department Building formally renamed as the Dewitt C. Greer State Highway Building.

1979

• August 31 – Department has 14,419 employees, down 29 percent from the number of full time employees a decade earlier.

1975

• Double-digit inflation and nearly flat gasoline-tax revenue plunge the department into a financial crisis. Some 5,500 department employees are laid off, dropping the workforce to 14,000.
• Legislature passes Texas Coastal Waterway Act authorizing the state's nonfederal sponsorship of the Texas extent of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The measure also designates the State Highway and Public Transportation Commission (now the Texas Transportation Commission) to act as agent for the state in fulfilling the new responsibility.
• June 19 – Gov. Dolph Briscoe signs legislation folding the Mass Transportation Commission into the Highway Department, renaming the agency the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation.

1974

• May – Texas Highways, after 21 years as the department’s in-house publication, is re-tooled as a state travel magazine.
• January 20 – With the nation struggling through a gasoline shortage caused by the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the maximum speed limit is reduced to 55 mph to conserve fuel.

1972

• Department’s workforce reaches an all-time high of 20,500 employees.

1971

• April – Department receives plans for its new headquarters, a 12-story, 745,000-square foot building capable of accommodating 3,200 workers.
• Legislature establishes Texas Motor Vehicle Commission and another agency to coordinate public transportation, the Texas Mass Transit Commission.
• At the site of the proposed new department headquarters, archeologists excavate the foundation of the old temporary capitol. The structure housed the Legislature and various state offices during the construction of the present Capitol. Fire gutted the temporary capitol shortly after the state moved into the new state house in 1888.
• Confronted with legislative and public opposition to the proposed new headquarters building, the commission drops the idea and conveys Block 124 to the State Board of Control for use as a parking lot.

Present to 2001 | 2000 to 1971 | 1970 to 1951 | 1950 to 1931 | Through 1930