DEATH Pete Davis of Texas Turnpike Auth Div gone

DEATH

Pete Davis of Texas

Turnpike Auth Div gone

Peter Ross Davis, first director of the recently created Texas Turnpike Authority Division of the Texas Dept of Transp (TTAD/TXDOT) died May 17 of a heart attack. Davis, 54, was previously director of engineering at the Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) in Dallas. He had been in the job less than 6 months but those who knew him said he was energetic and effective in working to establish the new outfit, and enthusiastic about pushing ahead plans for new turnpikes — especially in the Austin state capital area.

When the old TTA was disbanded Aug 31 1997, its North Dallas Tollway, the major new George Bush pike, and a couple of smaller projects in Dallas, and the staff of the TTA were transferred to a new North Texas Tollway Authority, to be a regional toll authority in Dallas-Ft Worth. Pete Davis moved to the capital Austin to head up the new outfit which is a strange organizational creature, being both a division of the department and in some senses an authority in its own right with its own board of directors.

Davis was cheerful in dealing with the complexities of this arrangement, and the many other challenges of getting new roads designed, accepted, financed and built, and will be missed by many. The board and TXDOT are looking for a replacement. Jim Griffin former head of the TTA and chief of enginering of the NTTA is in charge on an interim basis. (Contact Wes Heald, head TXDOT 512 463 8585)

Pete Davis pikes roll on

May 28 the Texas Transp Commission approved the spending of $12m to carry forward plans, studies and development of three toll roads in the Austin area (see TRnl #24 Feb 98 p3) that Pete Davis had promoted. These are

(1) TX-130 a 140km (85mi) $900m toll road to run from I-35 north of Georgetown down the eastern fringe of the Austin area ending at Seguin on I-10, providing a second motorway standard route between the Texas capital and San Antonio.

(2) US-183A, a 28km (17mi) radial going northwest out of Austin, approx $90m

(3) The Big-T or Loop-1 Extension a T-shape roadworks extending an existing expressway Loop-1 northward and linking it to US-183A and to I-35, 7km (4mi) and about $70m

Austin for a city of 800k pop has poor highways and early financial analyses suggest the US-183A and Big-T projects should pay for themselves, but the TX-130 is likely to require staging, or heavy subsidies. (Contact Mark Cross TTAD/TXDOT 512 936 0984)