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Challenging the Wisdom of the Trans Texas Corridor.
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State transportation department
Michael Behrens has been executive director for six years, amid move to toll roads. May 31, 2007 By Ben Wear, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Michael Behrens, who as executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation since 2001 has led the agency through a period of radical change, is retiring at the end of August. Behrens announced that he is leaving the department after 37 years in a May 29 letter to Texas Transportation Commission chairman Ric Williamson. The letter does not include a reason for his leaving, which comes just after a legislative session in which the Transportation Department's toll road policies were buffeted by lawmakers. Behrens, a Texas A&M civil engineering graduate, however, is a quiet man and has not served as a leading spokesman for those policies. Williamson has filled that role in large part and has been the main target of criticism. The Transportation Department through all of the 20th century had been a pay-as-you-go organization, building road sections as gas tax revenue and fees brought in money. But under Gov. Rick Perry and his appointees to the commission, particularly Williamson, the agency has increasingly shifted to relying on toll roads and borrowed money to speed up construction. The changes have stirred up public opposition and, this session, concerted push-back by the Legislature. State law requires that the executive director's position be filled by an engineer, and typically the 90-year-old agency has promoted from within. Behrens, for example, was the agency's assistant executive director for engineering operations before getting the top spot six years ago. That position is currently held by Amadeo Saenz. The deputy executive director is Steve Simmons. The letter to Williamson also does not address what might be next for Behrens professionally. "I will always be an advocate for the Department and the need for providing adequate transportation infrastructure for this state," Behrens said. "I will continue to inform and educate."
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This Page Last Updated: Monday June 04, 2007