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Statewide Podcasts

TxDOT produces a weekly statewide podcast to keep you updated on the latest transportation news and issues. New podcast episodes are produced every Friday and are posted here and are also available on iTunes.

Note: You may subscribe to the RSS feed for the TxDOT statewide podcast.

Date	Description	Format
03/28/14	Growing Energy Sector Impacts Other States Too - What do Sacagawea, baseball legend Roger Maris, basketball coach Phil Jackson and author Louis L'Amour have in common? Give up? They were all born in the state of North Dakota. Here's something else you may not have known about North Dakota: the state's energy sector is growing faster than ours here in Texas. For more on the nation's second-leading energy producing state and the effect that growth is having on its transportation system, I spoke to Grant Levi, director of North Dakota's Department of Transportation.
03/21/14	TxDOT Committed to Developing Quality Rail Network - Last September, Erik Steavens became TxDOT's second director of its Rail Division, which immediately placed him at the forefront of the ongoing high-speed rail discussion both in Texas and across the United States. Before coming to TxDOT, Steavens worked as the Director of Intermodal Programs for the Georgia Department of Transportation, and before that worked for the Federal Highway Administration. Now six months into his second job directing rail projects at the state level, I spoke with Steavens on where Texas is and where it's going in regards to railroads.
03/05/14	Port Aransas Ferry: Full Speed Ahead for Spring Break - Spring Break is upon us and, while for most of us that means time off with family, for those who operate TxDOT's Port Aransas ferry boats it can mean some long days. For more, I spoke with Howard Gillespie, Director of TxDOT's Ferry Boat Operations in Corpus Christi.
02/21/14	Raymond: Take Care of Transportation Infrastructure - State Representative Richard Peña Raymond represents District 42, which is entirely within the city of Laredo. It also puts him in a unique position to observe up close the nation's largest inland port, and its third largest overall. That much trade requires an enormous amount of infrastructure that has only come relatively lately to the Laredo area. I spoke with Representative Raymond about how Laredo is managing that explosive growth, and what the future holds.
02/14/14	Working with Congress for Texans - Most often when TxDOT officials work with elected officials, it's at the state or local level. But there's another political body with which TxDOT works regularly - Congress. Representing the interests of Texas residents and motorists where 49 other states are competing for the same funding can be a tricky exercise, but few have managed it better than Coby Chase, TxDOT's Director of Federal Affairs, who is set to retire at the end of Feb. I spoke with Coby about how TxDOT represents itself at the federal level, and how that effort has changed during his career.
02/07/14	WAVE: The Future Is Now - Not all that long ago, Wes Smith's concepts of charging transit vehicles wirelessly from stations under the roadway sounded like something from Star Trek, one of the entrepreneur's favorite television shows. But for Smith, and his Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification - or WAVE - technology, the future is now. For more, I spoke with Wes at the recent Texas Transportation Forum in San Antonio. For more, I spoke with Smith during the 9th Annual Texas Transportation Forum.
01/31/14	Best of the TxDOT Podcast - Solemn anniversary: Nov. 7, 2000 was the last fatality-free day on Texas highways - November 7, 2000 was Election Day. It was also the last day that no one died on the highways in Texas. In the thirteen years since that day, more than 45,000 people have lost their lives in crashes and incredibly, the rate at which those deaths are occurring is accelerating. For more, I spoke with TxDOT's Deputy Executive Director, John Barton. This episode originally posted in November 2013.
01/24/14	It Can Wait: Don't Text and Drive - It's not often that a service provider of any kind tells its customers not to use its products, but that's just what AT&T is doing with its "It Can Wait" program, aimed at putting an end to the American addition to texting and driving. For more, I spoke with Jim Carter, Assistant VP of Market Research and Analysis for AT&T, during the 9th Annual Texas Transportation Forum.
01/17/14	RideScout: The Logistics of Getting There - Need to get from Point A to Point B? Someday soon you might have more options than you think thanks to the new RideScout app, which debuted in November. RideScout CEO and co-founder Joseph Kopser sat down with me at the 9th Annual Texas Transportation Forum to tell me more.
01/10/14	Foxx: Encouraging Collaboration - Last July, President Barack Obama appointed former Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Anthony Foxx to become the nation's 17th Secretary of Transportation. Foxx inherited a national transportation portfolio dealing with aging infrastructure, funding shortfalls and the expiration of the current transportation bill, MAP-21, this coming October. I spoke with Secretary Foxx following his keynote address to the 9th annual Texas Transportation Forum, Jan. 6-8, in San Antonio.