County Commissioners face a myriad of challenges in their attempts to provide constituents with a road network that not only provides a safe and reliable means of getting around the county, but also meets the transportation needs of commerce and industry within their county.
The amount and type of traffic on county roads is one of these challenges. Many counties are seeing increased traffic volumes associated with population growth in their own county or in adjacent counties. This is especially true when the next-door counties include metropolitan areas. Much of this traffic includes larger and heavier trucks and trailers associated with increased oil field, industrial, and other commercial endeavors. Overweight and over-sized vehicles can cause especially severe damage to county roads not built for such loads. Truck drivers and other motorists new to the area or who are passing through the county are unfamiliar with the road system. This means signage and traffic control are essential and need more attention than in the past.
In addition to the problems of higher traffic volume and heavier loads, drivers of all vehicles – cars, pickups, service trucks, delivery vans, tractor-trailer rigs, heavy industrial trucks, motorcycles – are all in a hurry these days. No one wants to be delayed for any reason. This results in more crashes at intersections and other areas of poor visibility or line-of-sight. These higher speeds coupled with heavier loads can cause significant damage to the roads and create hazardous road conditions.
Rain, snow, and stormy weather have always made the maintenance and upkeep of county roads difficult, but when catastrophic weather joins with these factors of heavy loads, high speeds, and unfamiliar drivers, Commissioners are faced with problems far greater than many of their predecessors.
The consequences of these challenges can cause significant damage to the county’s infrastructure, including roads, bridges, culverts, and traffic signs. This can result in the reduction or loss of services to the residents living on these roads. This is true not only when the damage occurs, but also during subsequent repairs and/or rehabilitation of the roadways. Additionally, these increases in traffic burdens – vehicle counts and heavier loads – and the associated increases in speeds contribute significantly to a rise in accidents, injuries, and deaths.
How do Commissioners address these challenges ?
Many road improvement issues can and should be dealt with on a “manage-by-crisis” method, meaning to respond to a problem when it occurs. Normal road maintenance as well as many severe or unique weather-related problems fall into this category. Additionally, severe road or bridge damage from crashes will also need to be addressed in this manner. However, Commissioners can sometimes avoid emergency crisis situations by planning ahead and anticipating future challenges. This process is called Strategic Planning.
What does Strategic Planning consist of ?
Wikipedia defines strategic planning as “an organization’s process of defining its strategy or direction and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.” This planning consists of 1) assessing the county’s current infrastructure status, and 2) projecting what you want to accomplish in the future. The following four steps will take you through this strategic planning process:
- Determine your strategic position.
- Prepare a mission statement and/or list of objectives.
- Produce a written Strategic Plan.
- Use the Strategic Plan and revise it continually.
The Process
One way to accomplish this plan is for your Commissioners Court to hold a series of workshops or planning sessions and utilize a hands-on approach to developing this Strategic Plan. Depending on how your county addresses and operates the road system, this could entail the entire Commissioners Court, or it could be just the four Commissioners. Others who might be invited to participate would be precinct superintendents and/or foremen. Also, if the County has an engineer or road superintendent who assists the Commissioners Court with maintenance and upkeep of the road system, he/she should be included in the planning sessions.
There are a number of things to remember and implement which can facilitate a productive and successful workshop. These include some or all of the following:
- These workshops could be scheduled just prior to budget hearings, but summertime is usually a very busy time for road maintenance and construction. I recommend holding the planning sessions during the winter season since many of the road maintenance functions are not performed during these months.
- Location of the work sessions can be a concern for some counties. Since this is a meeting of all the Commissioners or of the entire court, it must be posted as an open meeting. This will require a location with room for interested citizens and representatives of the media.
- Participants should be seated at tables with adequate room for maps and other documents.
- Try to preclude interruptions while the sessions are being held, and have scheduled times during the workshops to allow for phone calls and rest room breaks.
- Refreshments – water, coffee, soft drinks, snacks – are a good idea.
- Have a means of documenting ideas, notes, recommendations, suggestions, concerns, etc. This may entail a chalk/white board, or it could be an employee who takes notes during the sessions.
The Strategic Plan
When finished, the Plan should contain a fairly complete snapshot of the current county road network as well as a list of projects and improvements that will address the Commissioners Court’s long-range goals and objectives for the county road system. Let’s address the preparation of the Plan using the four-step process mentioned previously:
1. Determine your strategic position.
In other words, what are your infrastructure assets that make up the county road network? Assets may include paved roads, unpaved roads, drainage facilities (bar ditches, culverts, low water crossings), bridges, roadway signage, delineators/chevrons, and parking lots. In order to define and quantify your strategic position, you must accumulate a significant amount of data and statistics.
The first thing I recommend is a good map or maps of the road system of your county. If you don’t have these, you can start with Google Earth, a road atlas, appraisal district maps, or an old TxDOT county road map (if you can find one).
Secondly, you should describe each road. Write down the dimensions of each roadway to include lengths and widths of the road surface and the widths of the rights of way. Also note the type of road surface (asphalt – hot mix or seal coat, gravel, compacted base, dirt) and an evaluation of the condition of the road structure and the road surface. Other data that would be beneficial would be the number of driveways (indicating one or more residences or other traffic generators) that intersect each road as well as the signage posted on each roadway (county signs and TxDOT signs).
Next, you should review the TxDOT County Road Inventory for your county. This online document includes line maps and a list of all county roads. The County Judge is contacted regularly by TxDOT for updates and changes to each county’s road network. To access this site, contact Jason Ferrell, County Road Inventory Coordinator with TxDOT, Jason.Ferrell@txdot.gov.
You need to quantify or estimate the amount of traffic traveling on each road. If possible, use traffic counters to establish the AADT or Average Annual Daily Traffic counts. If you can’t do this, you can categorize your roads into three Road Designations: Thoroughfares, Collectors, and Residential. This will group your roads into higher traffic (thoroughfares), medium traffic (collectors), and low-volume traffic (residential) for the purpose of prioritizing improvement projects.
Also, show on your maps the following information about traffic generators (beginning points or destinations for motorists) that you can quantify:
- Residences (or gates / driveway entrances);
- Businesses and commercial facilities;
- Bus routes (which you can obtain from your school districts);
- Industrial sites, oil well locations, tank batteries, cotton gins, wind turbines, quarries, timber mills, material pits, or any other business-type traffic generators.
One source you can go to for information on traffic crashes that have occurred in your county is the TxDOT Crash Data Analysis and Statistics website. This site provides annual summary reports for roadway crashes in every county in Texas. You can also request crash data on specific roads in your county at http://www.txdot.gov/government/enforcement/crash-statistics.html.
If possible, transfer as much of this data as possible onto your road map(s). Any information not placed on the map(s) should be readily available to reference when working on your projects and priorities.
2. Prepare a mission statement and/or list of objectives.
This can be a fairly simple statement such as: Meet the transportation needs of commerce, industry, and residents within the county while maintaining a reliable and safe road network. But it really should be a long-range and complex list of objectives that the county wants to accomplish.
Some examples of objectives or upgrades that you might desire to develop in the future:
- Obtain right of way and construct new road(s).
- Upgrade existing roads which could include several options:
- Asphalt surfacing of existing gravel or caliche roads.
- Reconstruction of all or portions of current roads.
- Improvements to the driving surface of roads with poor ride quality.
- Increasing the traffic capacity and safety of existing roadways by:
- Widening the travel lane widths of two-lane roads.
- Widening the entire roadway from two lanes to four lanes. This may require the acquisition of additional right of way. This will also require centerline and lane striping.
- Addition of shoulders.
- Center-line striping on your roads with higher traffic volumes.
- Improve traffic flow and safety:
- Improving curves and bends.
- Addressing line-of-sight issues at intersections and driveways. This includes addressing motorist’s ability to see traffic when approaching an intersection of two roads or an intersection of an access driveway and a county road.
- Establishing appropriate and standard speed limits for each type of roadway within the county and then installing proper signage.
- Establishing and/or upgrading to efficient and standard signage program.
- Address other roadside hazards such as trees in the right of way, narrow bridges, severe roadway edge drop-offs, unmarked T intersections or road ends, hazardous mailbox installations, etc.
As part of the Strategic Plan, the Commissioners Court should establish county standards for road construction to be adhered to by developers, outside contractors, and the county’s road department. Commissioners can reference The Texas Department of Transportation Standard Specifications for Construction and Maintenance of Highways, Streets, and Bridges which is accepted and used by most contractors in the road construction industry in Texas. You can use this standard when specifying road construction materials. Most material suppliers and contractors are familiar with these Standard Specifications and will be able to provide material in compliance with these requirements. The county’s standards need not be extensive or overly complex.
3. Produce a written Strategic Plan.
Once you have established the goals and objectives you want to accomplish, the next step is to make a list of specific projects such as:
- Widen Johnson Road (from SH 123 to CR 115) to 24 feet wide.
- Pave (with two-course asphalt surface treatment) CR 250 (currently a gravel road).
- Acquire right of way for a new road connecting CR 440 and CR 460.
- Clear right of way and construct new caliche/gravel road between CR 440 and CR 460 after acquisition of right of way.
- Remove and replace all 24-inch stop signs with new 30-inch stop signs.
These are just a few examples of some possible projects. Your list will be specific to your county and to each precinct. I suggest each Commissioner work on an extensive list for his/her precinct. After listing the projects, put them in order by priority – the most urgent or important ones at the top of the list. Then the four precinct lists can be combined into a countywide priority list. Remember, this plan is dynamic, and the priority order can be changed at any time. Also, projects can be added or removed from the plan when needs change.
Establishing this list will provide an aid for budgeting and deciding what long-term assignments you will pursue with your road crews and with contractors if you bid out some of your work. It will also assist you as you plan and execute routine maintenance on your road system.
4. Use the Strategic Plan, and revise it continually.
Use the plan you have produced. Do not print it up and put it on the shelf and forget about it. Keep it handy when scheduling normal maintenance activities. Sometimes you can make strides toward your goals by making small adjustments in routine maintenance functions. Carry the plan with you, and make notes on the maps or spreadsheets when you are riding the roads or when you are reviewing work done by your road crew.
During budget sessions and budget hearings, keep the Strategic Plan handy for reference. If and when you make changes in your objectives, projects, or priorities, make note and amend the document. As I previously stated, this document should be dynamic – always changing.
Don W. Bonifay, Bonifay Engineering, is a professional engineer in Texas and a consultant for West Texas counties. He specializes in road construction, road maintenance, drainage, and traffic control. His experience includes working as a regional manager of a highway/heavy construction company, teaching traffic control and safety for TEEX, and serving 20 years as the Ector County Engineer. For more information, please email Bonifay at db@bonspot.com.