Delisi Jingles the Keys to TxDOT's Highways

Deirdre Delisi (Photo by Richard Whittaker)

It seemed like a sign: When Texas Trans­portation Commission Chair Deirdre Deli­si addressed the Real Estate Council of Austin's monthly membership lunch Jan. 21 at the Four Seasons Hotel Downtown, there were roadworks in the hotel drive. With local legislators including state Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Drip­ping Springs, in attendance, Delisi avoided predicting the future of the overstretched Texas Department of Transpor­ta­tion. "I don't know," she said, "and no one can give you a definitive answer."

Formerly Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff, Delisi was appointed to the commission by her old boss last April amid questions about her transportation credentials (Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, called her "a political 'yes-man'"). She now leads an agency under severe legislative scrutiny. The Sunset Advisory Commission has recommended that the appointed commission she leads be replaced by a single elected commissioner; moreover, her interim nomination still has to go through Senate confirmation, an occasion likely to produce tough questions and senatorial grandstanding in equal measure. Delisi says she'd rather concentrate on pressing transportation issues. She explained, "I'm trying to be responsive to the desires of Texans, as well as the Legislature, to get the infrastructure in place, to be open-minded about how we move Texans around, and to restore a sense of confidence in the agency."

That will cost money. The 2030 Commit­tee she formed estimated that the state needs to sink $313 billion into transportation over the next 21 years – triple current estimates. Delisi doubts legislators can approve such sums, but with this estimate, she told RECA's members, "Texas now has a quantifiable number in play." She warned against getting too excited by the $3.2 billion in federal transportation stimulus money heading to Texas: $2.4 billion is for highways, but 10% is reserved for roadside enhancement projects and 45% for metro­pol­itan planning organizations. TxDOT will only keep 45% (roughly $1.08 billion), and up to $900 million could be clawed back from the Highway Trust Fund. "Two hundred million dollars," Delisi noted, "can't buy an interchange in Texas."