Transportation News, Volume 13, Number 9, May 1988 Page: 4 of 16
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4
Cooperation is key, Thomason says
A conversation with
Deputy Director
Henry Thomason
Henry Thomason is one of the
department's four deputy directors. He
oversees three divisions — Equipment and
Procurement, Materials and Tests, and Safety
and Maintenance Operations. Before being
named a deputy director in 1984, Thomason
was chief engineer of safety and maintenance
operations. He joined the department as a
summer employee in 1955, working as a
rodman in the expressway office in Wichita
Falls.
He spoke with Transportation News
recently as part of a series of interviews with
department leaders.
Any of the three large divisions you
coordinate would rival major corporations in
number of employees, budgets, and
equipment. How do you stay in touch with
what’s going on?
First of all, we’ve got three excellent
division heads, and they're supported by
equally competent managers and staffs. The
four of us get together from time to
time — usually we have lunch
together — and talk about what’s going on
that impacts two or sometimes ah three
divisions. Since we’ve all worked together
and known each other for many, many years,
we have a very good working relationship.
The four of us understand each other’s
problems, and share a delegating style of
management.
What sort of changes in the areas of
equipment, safety and maintenance, and
materials and testing have you seen since you
first joined the department?
The emphasis is on safety a lot more than
it was in the department’s earlier years.
Although we’ve always had a concern for the
safety of motorists and our own people,
we’re now seeing things like crash cushions
and breakaway signs. Before we put anything
out there that be may be hit by a motorist,
we try to make it as safe as we can.
Also, we’ve got a lot better equipment for
the safety of our people, and our people
have a much better attitude about safety
practices.
Another trend for the future seems to be
larger commercial trucks with higher-pressure
tires. What’s the department doing to
minimize the effects of these heavier trucks
on our pavement?
We have an obligation to provide
transportation to everyone who wants to use
the highway system. The trucking
industry — just because of the nature of the
work — requires more from the roadways. In
years gone by, we’ve sometimes experienced
an adversarial relationship between highway
engineers and the trucking industry. Now,
we’re making a real effort to overcome that
and develop a rapport that will ultimately
benefit the engineers, truckers, and
taxpayers.
About a year ago, the commission passed
a minute order establishing a Motor
Floyd Karstetter, assistant foreman for the Cedar Park maintenance section, enjoys a break with deputy
director Henry Thomason.
Transportation Advisory Committee, and
made me its chairman. We were directed to
work with other state agencies and with the
p’nvate sector to resof^pro^msmaSvance
that in the past materialized during legislative
sessions. We’ve had our initial meeting with
state agencies, and we’ll have the first of our
meetings with private industry in the next
month or two.
What sort of things do you discuss with
this advisory committee?
The three main areas that concern the
highway department are the
oversize/overweight truck permits,
weigh-in-motion activities that categorize
commercial trucks, and registration and fee
collection.
We’ve been working with the comptroller’s
office, the Department of Public Safety, the
Railroad Commission, and several other state
agencies, trying to provide a focal point for
the trucking industry to deal with in state
government.
At the same time, we’re trying to come up
with a representative group from the private
sector. Some of the organizations, like the
Texas Motor Transport Association, will be
members of the committee. We’ll have others
from private trucking companies as well as
bus lines and suppliers. We want to be able
to sit down several times a year and see if we
can’t at least define some of the problems
that we can handle before they become
misunderstandings. When either the state or
the private sector is involved in legislature
matters, we think it can be handled a lot
better through the committee than by waiting
until we’re in the halls of the Capitol.
Is this attitude of trying to find a common
ground with outside groups a major trend?
We think so. And the department will
take a leadership role in this sort of thing.
The relationship with the trucking industry is
just one example.
How is our relationship with
environmental groups affected?
One of the strongest relationships we’ve
built recently has been with an environmental
group — Keep Texas Beautiful.
We have a much better relationship than
we’ve ever had with all environmental
groups. And to me, this indicates the efforts
departmental employees have made to
understand the concerns of these groups and
try to mitigate damage that they — and
we — are concerned about.
Years ago, we considered ourselves the
“environmentalists” before that became a
popular word. We’re the ones who built the
scenic overlooks, provided the landscaping
and roadside parks, and planted the flowers.
And I think it came as a great surprise to
department employees that environmentalists
considered us their adversaries when they
first began to develop their influence several
years ago.
But I think now we have good partnership
with those groups. We don’t let them dictate
our work — we’re still the ones who must
decide how to locate, design, and operate
Texas highways. But we do listen to them,
understand their concerns, and respond
appropriately.
Since we’re on the subject of
beautification, what’s been the public’s
response to our efforts?
This is one area of our work that almost
guarantees positive comments and pleasant
reactions. I think it’s an activity that the
public appreciates, and it’s very visible.
Although it accounts for only about 1 percent
of our construction budget, the effects are
very noticeable. And I believe they’ll be a lot
more visible in years to come. A lot of what
we’re planting and getting established now
2
TRANSPORTATION NEWS
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Texas. Department of Transportation. Transportation News, Volume 13, Number 9, May 1988, periodical, May 1988; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1031969/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.