Mo Bur Thinks About Every Texan at TxDOT

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Everything that has played out in Mohamed “Mo” Bur’s life has been completely unexpected. He never expected to move to the US from Sudan and assumed his family would move back after a few years. He never thought he’d attend college in the States. He never imagined he’d move to Texas, marrying a preacher’s daughter in the process.

“I thought I would be here for a few years and then move into the private sector to make those big bucks,” Bur says, smiling.

Today, Bur, director of project development at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), has been serving the people of Texas for twenty-seven years. None of this was the plan, but his gratitude feels boundless.

He remembers his first day at TxDOT clearly because it set the tone for the rest of his award-winning career.

“My first day of work was actually my birthday,” the director recalls. “They had a cake here waiting for me. They had never met me, and my boss was the only person I’d met in our interview. I immediately felt part of the culture here. An East Coast immigrant from Sudan felt at home.”

While his tenure at TxDOT is long, the easiest thing to spot about Bur is his passion for what he does. He explains it simply: His organization’s work is affecting the people of Texas and those passing through every single day. Whether they’re trying to get to a soccer field, workplace, or the opening of a new business investing in Texas, Bur and his organization carry that weight with pride and passion.

“I immediately felt part of the culture [at TxDOT]. An East Coast immigrant from Sudan felt at home.”

Mohamed “Mo” Bur

While millions of Texans make it to their destinations every day, there are sometimes those who don’t. Bur takes those personally.

“When you sit down and design a bridge, roadway, or intersection, you’re not thinking about cars and numbers and volumes,” Bur says. “You’re thinking about people. You wonder: If they’re distracted, will they be able to navigate this curve? You put yourself in their shoes and try to make the best possible decisions for the worst possible outcomes.”

Bur remembers when he started getting out of his own head and into the minds of people he wanted to serve. The future director thought he was going to be an architect. An early class assigned each student a family of varying sizes and circumstances to build a house for. Bur got a family of five that included one child who was wheelchair bound.

“I got the codes and the requirements from the city,” the director remembers. “I knew all the hard numbers, but all I was thinking about was this family. Were the light switches low enough to accommodate everyone? Were there any obstacles for the child that I wasn’t seeing?”

Bur’s fixation on building the perfect house for the family led to his realization that he wasn’t made for architecture. His house was a feat of engineering, accommodation, and progressive thinking, but it was also sinfully ugly. That’s when Bur figured he’d leave the design to the designers.

In 2017, Bur was awarded the prestigious Dewitt C. Greer Award in recognition of his outstanding service in engineering to the people of Texas. There is a video of the award ceremony, but the director can’t bring himself to watch it. He remembers gripping the podium so tightly that he thought there might be claw marks on it. Bur attempted to pay tribute to every single individual who had helped him on his path, especially his mother.

Over the course of an interview, Bur doesn’t bring up significant projects or the $104 billion, ten-year transportation plan he helps administer on behalf of the DOT. But he does talk about the people: the governor, elected officials, and voters who helped secure that funding. He talks about the people who welcomed him into their homes, their kids’ games, and their lives when he first moved to Texas. He talks about the winners of the Dewitt C. Greer Award from his own organization and being fully present and celebrating with them and their families. He’d take that over getting the award himself any day.

Bur has served in multiple roles throughout his tenure at TxDOT, and his scope has both changed and somehow remained the same. He’s always been competitive. First, he wanted to run the best district in Texas. Now he says he knows that TxDOT is the best department in the country. But the thing that hasn’t changed, despite exponentially increased budgets and new titles, is Bur’s focus. You genuinely believe he just wants to serve others. Bur never expected to be here, but he’s sure glad he is.

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