Wimberley author to speak at International Bridge Conference

Wimberley author, Roger Pohlson, has been tapped to be a keynote speaker at the International Bridge Conference in San Antonio on June 3. The IBC is the foremost organization for the bridge industry in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Presented by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, the threeday conference brings more than 1,000 bridge owners and engineers, senior policy makers, government officials, designers, construction executives and suppliers from the U.S. and abroad.

Pohlson is the author, along with Carol Dawson, of the book, “Miles and Miles of Texas: 100 Years of the Texas Highway Department,” published in partnership with Texas A&M University Press in 2016. In 1989, he began a career with the Texas Department of Transportation. During his 20-plus years there he was editor and director of internal communications, spokesperson, speechwriter and finally coordinator of the monthly Texas Transportation Commission meetings held in Austin and various locations around the state. Upon retiring from TxDOT in 2012, he embarked on an ambitious project to produce a privately- financed book celebrating the centennial of the Texas Highway Department observed in 2017.

The book presents almost 100 years of history and never-before- seen photographs that track the development of the Texas Highway Department. An agency originally created “to get the farmer out of the mud,” it evolved to build the vast network of roads and bridges that now connects every corner of the state.

When the Texas Highway Department, now called the Texas Department of Transportation or TxDOT, was created in 1917, there were only about 200,000 cars in Texas traveling on fewer than a thousand miles of paved roads. Today, after more than 100 years of the Texas Highway Department, the state boasts over 80,000 miles of paved, state-maintained roads that accommodate more than 25 million vehicles.

One of six keynote speakers, Pohlson will give a powerpoint presentation that focuses on the bridges of Texas covered in the stunning 368-page book, illustrated with nearly 400 photographs. Photographs came from Tx-DOT’s very extensive library that contains tens of thousands of images. Geoff Appold was the book’s photo editor.

Pohlson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin and began his broadcasting career in 1968. Locals may know him for his work co-hosting the “Over Easy with Coach” radio program at KWVH. He has helped Coach Smith introduce musicians headlining the popular Stars over Wimberley concert series organized by WimberleyArts. org, previously known as WVACA, the Wimberley Arts and Cultural Alliance.