Waco District Engineer

Richard Skopik, P.E., is the district engineer for the Waco District of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The district comprises eight counties: Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Falls, Hamilton, Hill, Limestone and McLennan.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University in 1978 and joined TxDOT’s Tyler District as an engineering assistant in the Athens Area Office that same year. In 1982, he moved to the design section in the Tyler District office. He received certification as a professional engineer in 1983 and was advanced to the position of district design engineer in 1986. Skopik was promoted, in 1993, to deputy district engineer in the Tyler District and assisted in managing transportation-related projects and activities on a highway system of more than 3,000 centerline miles.

In 1998 he was selected as Waco District Engineer where he has been key in the development and implementation of the district’s I-35 Expansion Plan (valued at more than $1 billion), which is critical to meeting the transportation needs of the traveling public along this 94-mile Central Texas corridor. Also, the district has piloted one of the department’s two total-maintenance concept studies using a contract company to maintain district facilities on the interstate highway.

Skopik serves as a policy board member for the Killeen-Temple area and the Waco area, working to resolve transportation issues within the two urbanized areas. He also serves on various statewide management committees in the areas of highway-construction specifications, transportation planning research, and employee training and career development.

He lives in his hometown of Waco, enjoys traveling and exploring his Czech heritage.