Atlanta's District 19 headquarters of the Texas Department of Transportation rarely toots its own horn, but did so recently for TxDOT's centennial birthday party.
Department employees and retirees turned out earlier this month for a day of greeting the public at district headquarters.
And just as they manage to protect roadway work sites, the department employees prepared thoroughly for the walking public, which included busloads of schoolchildren.
From learning station tables manned by department leaders eager to tell of their work to having one's selfie made before a snow plow or witnessing the thrust of a crash dummy tossed out the window of a car door because no seat belts were worn-District 19's birthday celebration for TxDOT was informative.
The birthday party showed that TxDOT has a large mission, yet one connecting to people at the local level. The department studies mussels at road building sites to protect the environment. It plants wildflowers and prepares for the future of driverless vehicles. It works in real time to unjam car congestion in cities.
Yet all the while, the department is clear about its mission, i.e., it builds roads.
"That's it in a nutshell," said co-author Roger Allen Polson of the TxDOT centennial birthday book "Miles and Miles of Texas."
This book is so readable that it, too, serves the general public. This is no boring history. Those who start will find it hard to put down. Here's how co-author Carol Dawson, a writer of fiction not history, starts it off.
"At the precise moment April 14, 1917, when Gov. James Ferguson touched his pen to paper to sign the law creating the Texas Highway Department, he ignited a battle between the forces for the public good and the evil of greed."
District 19's birthday bash was a festival-style occasion featuring a restored World War I surplus truck, which was touring the 25 districts of the state. Each district was also being asked to contribute one item of TxDOT significance to be locked away in a time capsule for 50 years.
Another of the impressive centennial creations by the department is the online video "Connecting Texans To What Matters Most-100 Years of Service" found at http://www.txdot.gov/txdot100 or by googling "TxDOT 100th Birthday."
To the visitor at the District 19 headquarters, a quiet confidence seems to prevail as if employees know they are part of the recogntion that roads have been here almost forever. If having begun with an animal trail, the resulting path remains. Most roads do not fully go back to earth. They are lasting.
Here are some views of TxDOT's birthday party at District 19.