Bingo on the blacktop

May 19, 2026

By Jewel Schoppe and Cynthia Vaquera

LEAKEY, Texas — To the untrained eye license plates, dead animals, fallen trees and furniture are just trash on the road. But to TxDOT crews in San Angelo, they could be winning finds in a friendly game of bingo.

During their daily rounds, crews come across all sorts of unexpected objects and situations on the road. But behind the contest is a serious mission: keeping Texas roads clear, safe and moving regardless of what lands in the lane.

Each crew member carries a different card—it’s nothing fancy, just a spreadsheet. Throughout the day they check off what they find on the road: broken refrigerators, old BBQ grills, bowling trophies and busted toilets. You name it, they’ve probably picked it up.

“What’s fun about it is it [puts] a friendly competition on top of a job that we already do,” said Joel Flores, a TxDOT maintenance tech and the game’s most recent champion. “So far, the biggest animal I’ve found on the road would be an aoudad.”

While it may seem like a game, it actually reflects an important part of the work that maintenance crews do every day. Each space on the card represents a real hazard on the road that must be addressed quickly.

Their work is a never-ending mission to identify risks, remove obstacles, and adapt to changing road conditions to ensure the safety of those traveling on Texas roads.

So far, two members of the maintenance crew have filled out their first card and earned bragging rights. But beyond the friendly competition, the work continues.