Phillip E. Russell, P.E., is the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Assistant Executive Director for Innovative Project Development. He oversees the development and operation of turnpike projects including comprehensive development agreements, market valuations, pass-thru finance agreements, Trans-Texas Corridor activities and long-term transportation planning.

The 25-year TxDOT veteran has been director of the Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) Division from 1998 to 2007. Under his direction, TTA expanded the state highway system through the development of toll roads, worked with districts and local officials to form regional mobility authorities, and oversaw the preparation of comprehensive development agreements. He successfully managed the Central Texas Turnpike project, TxDOT’s first toll road and the first Public-Private Partnership – SH 130.

He began his career as a summer employee in the Burnet Resident Engineer’s Office in the Austin District in1978. He began working full-time with the department in 1982 in the Dallas District before moving, in 1993, to become Director of Transportation Planning and Programming in the Bryan District.

He earned a BS in civil engineering from UT in 1982 and a law degree (with honors) from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth in 1993.