TxDOT News...

The Texas Transportation Commission convened July 26 in Corpus Christi for its regular monthly meeting, continuing its tradition of traveling outside of Austin to meet with communities. The Commission will hold its Aug. 30 meeting in Austin and its Sept. 27 meeting in The Woodlands. The Commission took the following actions in Corpus Christi:

• Designated the 35-mile stretch of US 59 from north of the Liberty County line to I-610N in Houston as I-69.
  
• Authorized issuing a request for proposals for the development, design, construction and, potentially, maintenance of US 77 from Kingsville to Driscoll in Nueces County.
  
• Gave preliminary approval to allocating $197.6 million to the Central Regional Mobility Authority for construction of the MoPac Improvement Project in Austin.

The Commission also received reports on the agency's proposed Fiscal Year 2014-15 Legislative Appropriations Request and the federal surface transportation authorization bill recently signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Howard Holland, has been named the director of the Texas Department of Transportation maintenance division. He has been the Amarillo district engineer for the department for nearly four years.  Holland replaces Toribio Garza.

Eric Lykins, P.E., has been named director of construction of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Brownwood District.  Lykins, for the past 14 years, has worked in the Brownwood District as a transportation engineer and assistant area engineer.

Lonnie Gregorcyk, has been named district engineer of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Corpus Christi District.  He most recently served as the interim district engineer in the Corpus Christi District, prior to, he served as district engineer for the Yoakum District.  Gregorcyk replaces John Casey.