Local, state officials break ground on DPS Driver License ‘Megacenter’ in Pflugerville

By Marcial Guajardo

Managing Editor

The start of a major “transformation” of the state driver’s license division is now underway in Pflugerville.

On Feb. 2, Texas Department of Public Safety officials joined development, city and county officials in a groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed DPS “Megacenter” in Pflugerville, just east of Interstate 35 at 900 Wells Branch Parkway. The facility will provide basic driver’s license services to motorists.

“Happy Groundhog Day,” Rebecca Davio, assistant director of the DPS Driver License division, said to those gathered for the groundbreaking. “My prediction is that this Pflugerville Driver License office is going to provide a great driver license experience for people all over Central Texas that will be drawn here.”

DPS currently has plans for five other Driver License Megacenters in metro areas of the state, including one in San Antonio, two in the Houston area and two in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Davio noted DPS worked with Texas State University to target underserved areas of the state and then plan Driver License facilities for those areas.

Locally, Pflugerville Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Floyd Akers said the DPS Megacenter represents about a $3 million investment that will produce a 25,000-square-foot facility with 57 fulltime employees. DPS anticipates about 600 trips taken to the facility daily, after its September opening.

For Pflugerville residents, that will mean fewer trips taken to DPS offices in Austin or Williamson County.

“One of the greatest things about this is that currently if you need to go to a driver’s license office, you have to go down to Lamar or Georgetown or west Austin somewhere,” said Akers. “So this is going to be great for [Pflugerville residents].”

Davio noted “faster,” “easier” and “friendly” are the Driver License division’s new watchwords, and will come into play at the new Megacenters. DPS – which had seen the state’s population grow by 21 percent without any new driver’s license facilities or the addition of more employees – is looking to change “every single aspect of the driver’s license process” after getting legislative approval for the new facilities, Davio said.

“It wasn’t acceptable to DPS and it wasn’t acceptable to legislators,” she noted.

DPS plans to simplify the driver’s license experience, growing the employee base per facility and leveraging technology in the new facilities.

“All of this is going to lead to a faster, easier and friendly driver license experience and a safer Texas,” said Davio.

Services at the Megacenter will include driver’s license renewal, new license acquisition and replacement of identification cards.

“It’s very exciting to be here,” she said. “This is the first major part of the flagship of the transformation process we’re undertaking in the Driver License division. It’s not just the Megacenters [that will see change] but this is going to be such a visible part of the transformation.”

Jerry Reed of Development 2000, an Austin real estate commercial development company, noted the effort to build the facility actually began about five years ago, when developers teamed with city and county officials in pushing to extend Heatherwilde Boulevard to Howard Lane and to extend Wells Branch Parkway eastward.

Patricia Gervan-Brown, of the Pflugerville Chamber of Commerce, was enthused to see the city’s daytime work population grow. That should help the city recruit more restaurants, she said.

“With all the good work that is going on with the city and development corporation we may have to say ‘Come Home to Work’ in Pflugerville,” Gervan-Brown said, playing off the chamber’s “Come Home to Shop” slogan. “So we are very excited about that.”