CEO Brian Coltharp Asks Business Leaders to Focus More on Texas’ Aging Infrastructure

Hillwood President Mike Berry listens to Freese and Nichols CEO Brian Coltharp during their panel on infrastructure.

We’ve done all the easy things and will increasingly need innovative, practical solutions to meet the state’s water needs, Freese and Nichols CEO Brian Coltharp told an audience of corporate leaders, policymakers and planners at the Texas Association of Business Annual Conference.

Meeting in Dallas on Jan. 28, the group examined a variety of challenges facing the state, including the roles that water and transportation infrastructure play in sustaining Texas’ successful business climate.

Conference speakers included industry leaders in energy, aeronautics, technology, development and other fields, along with state officials involved with workforce development and higher education.
Brian urged business leaders to focus more attention on the impact of continued growth on aging infrastructure.

“We need to balance the cost of our growth against the cost of sustaining our infrastructure,” he said.
Brian called it “a great step forward” that the Texas Legislature approved funds for statewide flood planning similar to the water planning system. But, he noted, “all these infrastructure projects take a long time to implement, and they take a lot of money to execute.”

“We’re steps ahead because we have the plans, but there are a lot of things we have to keep up with, including new technology and climate change,” he said.