Assistant Executive Director for Field and District Operations

David Casteel, P.E.John Barton, P.E., is the Interim Assistant Executive Director for Field and District Operations. He oversees TxDOT's 25 districts and four Regional Support Centers and coordinates their activities to ensure funds are used to maximum efficiency. He is also responsible for management and control of the Construction, Maintenance and Traffic Operations divisions.

Barton also serves as the Interim Deputy Executive Director. He is responsible for assisting in all phases of directing, managing and implementing TxDOT's policies, programs and operating strategies. He oversees the management of all transportation systems for which the agency is responsible to ensure that systems are adequate, safe and constructed and maintained for the traveling public in the most cost effective manner.

He is also the Assistant Executive Director for Engineering Operations. In this capacity he is responsible for management and control of the Aviation, Bridge, Design, Environmental Affairs, Rail, Right of Way, Transportation Planning & Programming and Texas Turnpike Authority Divisions and the Project Management and Research & Technology Implementation Offices. He also assists in directing long and short-range planning for the agency including the establishment of overall operating objectives and the technical merits of programs and policies.

Barton grew up in Archer City, a small rural town in north central Texas, before attending college at Texas A&M University where he graduated with honors in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. He then began working full time for the Texas Department of Transportation and now has more than 26 years of service with TxDOT.

He began working for TxDOT as a summer employee in the Archer City Maintenance Section of the Wichita Falls District in north central Texas while in high school, and then began full-time employment after graduating from Texas A&M as an Engineering Assistant in their Bowie Area office.

He was promoted to Area Engineer in Bowie in 1993, and later served as the Area Engineer in the Gainesville and Wichita Falls Area offices. In these positions John oversaw the design, construction, and maintenance activities of numerous highway and bridge projects throughout the north central Texas area.

In 1999 he was selected as the Director of Transportation Planning & Development for the Wichita Falls District where he worked with local and regional elected officials and communities to develop and implement region wide improvements to the transportation system.

In 2003, Barton was recognized for the numerous successes and advancements he had orchestrated in regional planning through this position by receiving the 2003 AASHTO President's Award for Planning. In December 2003, he was named to the position of District Engineer for the Beaumont District.

As the District Engineer, Barton oversaw all TxDOT activities in eight counties in southeast Texas related to the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of a large and diverse transportation network. He is also a 2006 graduate of the Governor's Executive Development Program at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Like most TxDOT employees, he has worn many hats during his time with TxDOT, including construction project inspector and manager, laboratory technician, surveyor, designer, planner, Area Engineer, District Design Engineer, District Bridge Engineer, District Director of Transportation Planning and Development, District Engineer, Assistant Executive Director for Engineering Operations, Interim Executive Director and now Interim Deputy Executive Director.

He and his wife, Sheryl, have two daughters Lauren and Rachel.

You may contact Barton by phone at (512) 305-9504 or by e-mail.