Two oldest TxDOT divisions celebrate century of excellence

March 6, 2024

By Shannon McIntire and Kelly E. Lindner

AUSTIN—The two oldest divisions of TxDOT recently turned 100 years old, celebrating a rich history that began with wooden bridges and dirt roads and now includes high-speed highways and autonomous vehicles.

The Texas Highway Department—as TxDOT was called in the early days—created the Maintenance Division in 1923 to handle the upkeep of Texas roads.

The Construction Division has gone by many names since its inception a few months later. However, its charge has always been to exercise general supervision over construction operations on highway projects.

Over the years, the Construction Division has come a long way. In 1955, it had fewer than 20 employees. Today, it has 46 employees. In fiscal year 2023, the division broke records for approving new projects, both in the number and dollar value.

“A lot has changed since 1923,” said Construction Division Director Duane Milligan. “We don’t use horses on our projects anymore or as much manual labor. Our construction projects have seen incredible advances in technology. But from the beginning, we’ve had a commitment to the safety of our employees.”

Today, the Maintenance Division has more than 100 employees who help support thousands of district maintenance employees around the state. The divisions have consistently changed to meet the growing needs of Texas.

“In 1928, the division had 18,000 highway miles and 10,000 of those miles were just plain dirt,” said Maintenance Division Director James Stevenson. “Today we maintain more than 200,000 lane miles of pavement.”

Among the biggest changes in the past 100 years, Stevenson said, are the types of equipment used on Texas highways and the precautions used to keep workers and motorists safe.

“Most of our equipment is purchased with certain functions in mind, so it is a lot more specialized than it was 100 years ago,” Stevenson said. “And safety has become the biggest consideration for all our operations. We perform our work activities with safety in mind from start to finish.”