TxDOT’s Top Drivers from Lufkin District - November 16, 2009
Submitted by Kathi White

Employees place first and second at state competition

LUFKIN, Texas – And the winner is…Adam Sharp. Second place goes to Scott Duffey. Those were the words announced at the completion of the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) State Truck Roadeo Competition in Austin on October 30th and the Lufkin District could not be more proud.

Pictured from left are: Scott Duffey, Shelby County Maintenance Employee; Adam Sharp, San Augustine County Maintenance Employee

Adam and Scott are both employees for TxDOT’s Lufkin District. Sharp is a heavy equipment operator at the San Augustine County Maintenance Office. Duffy is a mechanic at the Shelby County Maintenance Office in Center. Both were employed at Shelby County during the initial driving event. At state they competed against the top 48 drivers from TxDOT’s 24 other districts around the state.

The Truck Roadeo is a part of TxDOT’s safety program and tests the driving and safety skills of employees who have a commercial driver’s license. The competition starts out with all 4,800 or so drivers from the 25 districts competing locally within their county sections, with the top two from each section advancing to the district level. From there, the top two drivers in each district compete at the state level. The roadeo requires employees to perform a timed vehicle inspection and maneuver through six obstacle courses set up to test their driving ability, accuracy, concentration and safety skills.

Adam and Scott said they were a little worried during the awards ceremony after hearing everyone’s names called but theirs. They said they were focused on the prize – a duffle bag - and worried they wouldn’t get one.

“It was pretty nerve-racking but I had fun,” said Adam. “We didn’t know what to expect during the awards… They had given away almost all of the duffle bags and I looked at Scott and said ‘I think they forgot about us.’ ”

The men said they were stunned when Scott was announced as the runner-up.

“I was really surprised,” Scott said. “We were even more shocked when Adam was called out as the winner. But it was fun. The competition was a good experience.”

Before making it to Austin, Adam and Scott competed against their co-workers in Angelina, Houston, Nacogdoches, Polk, Sabine, San Jacinto and Trinity counties. The roadeo competitors are the same TxDOT employees who maintain over 80,000 miles of highways across the state. Safety is the department’s top priority and the competition helps the employees with professional development as they strive to perform their daily job duties and provide a quality transportation system for the traveling public.

The last TxDOT district to have the two top drivers was the Yoakum District in 2007. The Lufkin District had the first place driver in 2002 and 2003, when Lee Dhone from Angelina County Maintenance brought home top honors.

For more information, contact Kathi White, public information officer, at (936) 633-4395; John Mathews, San Augustine County Maintenance Supervisor, at (936) 275-9671; or Clinton Norton, Shelby County Maintenance Supervisor, at (936) 598-4113. Follow us! www.twitter.com/TxDOTLufkin.

LUFKIN, Texas – The Texas Department of Transportation and its U.S. 59 Project contractor, Zachry Construction Corp., announces upcoming work on the project which includes some nighttime work. Motorists are urged to use caution when traveling through the area and to take alternate routes when possible to avoid delays.

- November 16, 17 and 18: Zachry will close eastbound Loop 287 from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly to for work on the straddle bent of the Northbound Direct Connect over Loop 287. Traffic will exit at the Palms Shopping Center and can re-enter The Loop at the entrance ramp near Chili's.

- November 19: Traffic will be switched onto the new U.S. 59 north pavement from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Traffic will remain in a temporary configuration on this new pavement as the contractor finishes constructing the last sections of U.S. 59 pavement near Whitehouse Drive.
1. While the tie-ins are being made, U.S. 59 northbound traffic will exit right before Whitehouse Drive (at Silver Creek Apartments) and continue on to the Northbound Frontage Road. This means any traffic wanting to go into town will have to make the turn around at Chestnut/FM 58. This traffic switch eliminates the entrance onto the Northbound Frontage Road and the exit on to U.S. 59 Business.
2. Once the traffic switch is complete, the only entrance on to the Northbound Frontage Road will be before Whitehouse Drive (at the Silver Creek Apartments).
3. U.S. 59 traffic will make the turn onto the Eastbound Frontage Road at the intersection to continue on to Loop 287/US 59. This will still be a "free right turn". That means that U.S. 59 traffic will not have to yield.

- Finally, the next step on U.S. 59 is to build the entrance ramp from the Northbound Frontage Road to the U.S. 59 mainlanes. This ramp is just north of Whitehouse/Daniel McCall Drive Bridge and will take three to four weeks to complete.

For more information, contact Kathi White, public information officer, at (936) 633-4395 or David Collmorgen at (936) 633-4331.