(a) In accordance with Transportation Code, §223.012, the department will develop a schedule for liquidated damages that accurately reflects the costs, including administrative costs to the department and road user costs, that result from delays in the completion of a project resulting from a breach of a highway improvement contract. The department will review the schedule from time to time and revise it as necessary to insure that it continues to accurately compensate for the costs resulting from a breach.
(b) For each highway improvement contract for a project that the department identifies as having a significant impact on the traveling public, the department will determine project-specific liquidated damages that accurately reflect the costs, including administrative costs to the department and road user costs, that result from delays in the completion of a project resulting from a breach of a highway improvement contract. In determining whether a project has significant impact on the traveling public, the department, in addition to other relevant factors, will consider whether the project will:
  (1) involve an interstate highway, hurricane evacuation route, or hazardous material route;
  (2) affect access to schools or hospitals
  (3) affect a corridor of regional, statewide, or national importance;
  (4) affect the response times of emergency vehicles;
  (5) affect a primary thoroughfare in a community;
  (6) require long term ramp closures for controlled access roadways;
  (7) result in significant added travel time or distance;
  (8) result in added travel time for the traveling public on or around a major national or state holiday; or
  (9) have a substantial impact on local businesses.

Source Note: The provisions of this §9.22 adopted to be effective September 19, 2018, 43 TexReg 5996