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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
04/25/14	RMD's Tilden: "We Can Get Ahead of the Curve" - Over the years, the Texas Department of Transportation has purchased thousands of parcels of land to build highways. But sometimes those plans change, or technology improves, causing the original design of a project to change after the right of way has been purchased. Traditionally, TxDOT has largely held onto that property in the thought that once purchased, it might be used for a future need. But the department's recently formed Real Estate Management and Development Division is changing that tradition, with an eye toward stimulating local economies in the process. For more, I spoke with RMD's founding director, Roland Tilden.
04/17/14	Best of the TxDOT Podcast - 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. This episode originally posted in January 2014.
04/11/14	Best of the TxDOT Podcast - 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. This episode originally posted in January 2014.
04/04/14	Don't mess with Texas Trash-Off - Spring cleaning is happening everywhere, including on Texas roadsides as TxDOT and Keep Texas Beautiful launch the Don't mess with Texas Trash-Off on Saturday, April 5. This month-long event means that thousands of volunteers will be picking up litter on roadsides all across the state. For more, I spoke with KTB's Christine Chute Canul.
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.