DOTD and highway office defend bundle approach, pledge faster project delivery

DOTD Secretary Glenn Laday told the House Ways and Means Committee that project delivery improvements are the cornerstone of a transformation intended to make sure projects get delivered on time and cash flow follows.

"Everything that we're doing and talking about today is making sure that projects get delivered on time and on budget," Laday said, outlining roadshow presentations and the department's practice of allocating funds ahead of letting so projects are committed for construction.

Archie Shevson, executive director of the Office of Highway Construction, described inheriting a $172 million capital-outlay budget, executing about $59 million in contracts and putting roughly 14 of 62 bundled bridges under construction.

"We have about 20 of them under contract, with about 14 of them under construction," Shevson said, adding that one bridge in the bundle was substantially complete as of the morning of the hearing.

Shevson and FP&C staff argued that bundling collections of bridges into a single dollar amount allows the office to allocate work to multiple engineering firms and to keep projects moving even when individual bids come in over budget. FP&C analysis cited at the hearing showed that while many projects come in under budget, a subset that is over budget can cause those projects to sit dormant until the next fiscal year.

Committee members pressed DOTD on prior-year P1 funds that remain unspent; Laday acknowledged dormant or delivery issues and said DOTD staff are working to identify projects that cannot move forward so those dollars can be reclaimed or repurposed.

The committee asked FP&C and DOTD to return with lists of dormant projects, the balance of cash remaining on completed projects, and a readiness status for new P1 items so lawmakers can decide whether to reallocate funds while HB 2 is under consideration.