Dale Rand, who served as director of the Flexible Pavements Branch of the Texas Department of Transportation for the past 13 years, will retire effective June 30, 2013. His last day in the office will be June 28.
Dale began his career with TxDOT in 1983 working as a summer employee in the Odessa Area Office. After graduating from Texas Tech in 1987, he went to work for the department full time in the Abilene Area Office. In 1989, he transferred to Austin to what was the Materials & Tests Division, Bituminous Branch. He entered the department’s masters program in 1996 and received his Masters Degree in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997.
Prior to becoming the Flexible Pavements Branch director, he served as the director for the Soils and Aggregates Branch and spent one year as the technical director for the Texas Asphalt Pavement Association.
During his career with the department, Dale was instrumental in the development and implementation of several initiatives, including QCQA specifications for HMA, Wet Weather Accident Reduction Program (WWARP), Technician Certification Program, Annual Proficiency Testing Program, Ride Quality Measurement Program, thermal imaging for HMA surfaces, use of permeable friction course (PFC) and use of warm mix asphalt. He also played a major role in the use of recycled materials in HMA such as crumb rubber, shingles and recycle asphalt pavement.
He is a past winner of TxDOT’s High Flyer Award and a recipient of AASHTO’s Journey Toward Excellence Award. He says that he is most proud of his role of improving safety and helping reduce wet weather accidents through the use of PFC.
Dale, his wife Jan and daughter Alaina plan to move to Dripping Springs where he will begin working for PaveTex Engineering in August.