Who Watches the Road Money?
Following the money and the paper trail behind the region's biggest road projects.
When the state signs a highway contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars, who is watching to make sure taxpayers get what they paid for? T.W.A. News Investigates went looking for the answer.
Our team traced how major road projects in the San Antonio region are bid, awarded and inspected, from the first engineering drawings to the final walkthrough before a new lane opens.
The system has layers — project engineers, independent inspectors, materials testing — and the records show they catch most problems early, while concrete can still be fixed rather than torn out.
Where the process strains, experts told us, is communication: schedule slips and cost changes that are routine inside the industry can look very different to the drivers sitting in the backups those projects create.
Transportation officials say public dashboards tracking major projects are expanding, giving drivers and taxpayers a clearer view of timelines and budgets.
T.W.A. News will keep following the region's biggest projects — and the paper trail behind them — in this continuing series.
