TxDOT Glossary: L

L2 transfer protocol: L2TP; L2TP defines an encapsulation mechanism for transporting multi-protocol packets across layer 2 (L2) point-to-point links. Typically, a user obtains an L2 connection to a Network Access Server (NAS), using one of a number of techniques (e.g., dial-up POTS, ISDN, ADSL, etc.) and then runs PPP over that connection.; Information Security Manual

labor certification: Labor certification is information provided by an FTA grantee to the US Department of Labor ensuring that fair and equitable labor protection arrangements have been made. The protection includes the employees of the grant applicant, employees of other FTA grantees, and employees of any other public or private transit provider, including providers of transit service by contract.; Public Transportation Collection

laminated elastomeric bridge bearings: Laminated elastomeric bridge bearings consist of layers of elastomer interspersed with non-elastic (steel) laminates.; Manual of Testing Procedures

lamp: See light source.; Highway Illumination Manual

lane line: The lane line is the broken line separating lanes for traffic moving in the same direction or a solid line for delineating traffic lanes and shoulder edge.

lane-mile: Lane-mile is a measure of the total length of traveled pavement surface. Lane-miles is the centerline length (in miles) multiplied by the number of lanes.; Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) Users Manual

lane rental: Like A+B bidding, the goal of the lane rental concept is to encourage contractors to minimize road user impacts during construction. Under the lane rental concept, a provision for a rental fee assessment is included in the contract. The lane rental fee is based on the estimated cost of delay or inconvenience to the road user during the rental period. The fee is assessed for the time that the contractor occupies or obstructs part of the roadway and is deducted from the monthly progress payments.

Laredo District: LRD; The Laredo District is a TxDOT district office including the following counties: Dimmit, Duval, Kinney, LaSalle, Maverick, Val Verde, Webb, Zavala. Area offices are located in Carrizo Springs, Del Rio, and Laredo. Other TxDOT offices in the district include the Judge Roy Bean Visitor’s Center and a Travel Information Center.; Inside TxDOT

lateral pressure (minor principal stress): Lateral pressure is the pressure supplied by air in the triaxial cell, applied in a radial or horizontal direction.; Manual of Testing Procedures

late residential cccupant: A late residential occupant is any person who occupies a dwelling for less than 90 days immediately before the initiation of negotiations and the property is subsequently acquired, or a person who moves onto the property after the initiation of negotiations and is still in occupancy on the date of acquisition.; Right of Way Manual

layer: Layer is a horizontal soil structure of uniform or nearly uniform material. When the material changes due to moisture, density or composition, a new layer is considered to have been created.; Manual of Testing Procedures

layer coefficient: Layer coefficient (a1, a2, a3) is the empirical relationship between structural number (SN) and layer thickness which expresses the relative ability of a material to function as a structural component of the pavement.; Pavement Design Manual

layer of security: A layer of security is an action, device, or other measure that is used to restrict physical access to information resources, such as a key, guard, camera system, or security card reader.; Information Security Manual

lead time: Materials and Supplies Management System Manual; Purchasing Manual

lease: Lease means a long-term contract giving the lessee the exclusive possession and use of property although the lessor retains ownership throughout the duration of the lease. A contract is "long-term" only when its duration is at least one month.; Travel Manual

leasehold interest: Leasehold interest is the interest a tenant holds in the property by virtue of a lease or rental of the property. Also termed leasehold estate.; Right of Way Collection

least necessary privilege: Least necessary privilege refers to a capability provided only to the person(s) required to have that capability in order to perform required duties.

leave of absence without pay: LWOP; Leave of absence without pay is an authorized unpaid absence from work for a specified period of time.; Human Resources Manual

ledge: A ledge, sometimes called rock, is several beds of rock (or a single bed or stratum) occurring in a quarry or outcropping and exposed to view.

legacy system: A legacy system, typically, is an existing system based upon older technologies that is functioning to provide key business-related processing for an organization.

legal contract: A legal contract is a legally binding document that provides determination of responsibilities and liabilities.; Information Security Manual

legal property description: See property description.; Right of Way Collection

legend material: Legend material, for use as prefabricated pavement marking, is the various words such as LEFT, TURN, ONLY, etc., or the letter “R” when used for a railroad crossing.; Manual of Testing Procedures

Legislative Affairs Office: LAO; The Legislative Affairs Office monitors state executive, legislative, and congressional activities and identifies proposed bills that may affect the department.; Inside TxDOT

length of curve: The length of curve is the measurement of arc from point of curvature (PC) to point of tangency (PT).; Survey Manual

leq: Leq is the energy-averaged sound pressure level in decibels. Leq is usually reported on an hourly basis and written as Leq(h).; Environmental Affairs Division

letter of authority: LOA; Documentation that federal requirements have been met and approval for the department to proceed with performance of work or project advertisement on state oversight projects.; Design Division Letting Management Office

letting: Letting is the process of providing notice, issuing proposals, receiving proposals, and awarding contracts.; Letting Manual

letting official: The letting official is the TxDOT official in charge of conducting the letting and is responsible for making required rulings.; Letting Manual

levee: A levee is a continuous ridge of embankment for confining drainage to the desired area. An embankment to prevent flooding.

level cutters: Level cutters are the elements of a job that distinguish it from a lower-level job in the same job family. Level cutters include distinctions in the extent to which the position is supervised by or supervises other positions, additional duties or advanced levels of responsibility, education and experience requirements, specific degrees(s) or license/certifications requirements, additional competency requirements to include knowledge requirements, and specific skills, abilities and other attributes.; Human Resources Manual

level of service: Level of service is a measure of traffic flow and congestion. As defined in the Highway Capacity Manual - A qualitative measure describing operational conditions within a traffic stream; generally described in terms of such factors as speed and travel time, freedom to maneuver, traffic interruptions, comfort and convenience, and safety.

Level of Service analysis: LOS; An LOS analysis determines the LOS for a particular facility usually for three time periods. These periods include existing, construction year, and design year (usually 20 years past the construction year) conditions. Three levels of analysis include planning, design, and operational analysis. A planning LOS analysis involves little detail and is used for preliminary facility sizing. A design LOS analysis is more detailed and tends to be used for sizing a facility given specific traffic and roadway conditions. An operational LOS analysis is typically used to assess current conditions so that improvements can be developed to improve flow. An operational LOS analysis is usually the most detailed.

level-up course: The level-up course is a layer of material constructed directly on the existing pavement surface to eliminate irregularities before placing an overlay course.

liability claims: Liability claims are those requests for reimbursement arising out of the use or operation of department owned, leased, or rented equipment which may or may not have resulted in property damage, injury or deaths to persons outside the department.; Occupational Safety Manual

liabilities: Liabilities are debts or other legal obligations arising out of transactions which must be paid at some future date. The term does not include encumbrances.

lien: A lien is a hold or claim that one person has on the property of another, such as a security for a debt or a charge, judgment, mortgage, or tax.; Right of Way Manual

lienholder: A lienholder is a person who possesses a right of lien on the property of another.; Right of Way Manual

life-cycle costs: Total costs for construction and maintenance, or purchase and operation, over the expected useful life of the asset.

life-cycle cost analysis: An economic assessment of competing design alternatives, considering all significant costs of ownership over the economic life of each alternative expressed in equivalent dollars.

lift

Light Rail Transit or Light Rail: LRT; A railway with a “light volume” traffic capacity compared to “heavy rail.” Light rail may use shared or exclusive rights of way, high or low platform loading, and multi-car trains or single cars traveling on fixed rails. LRT is usually electric-powered and is also known as light rail, streetcar, trolley car, and tramway.

light source: The device that converts electric energy to visible light (also called the lamp).; Highway Illumination Manual

light standard: A light standard, or pole, is the supporting member for a luminaire.

lighting assembly: A lighting assembly is a complete lighting fixture consisting of the housing, reflector, lens and ballast. A lighting assembly may or may not include a lamp.; Manual of Testing Procedures

lightweight aggregate: Lightweight aggregate consists of expanded shale, clay or slate, and is produced by the rotary kiln method. NOTE: This definition has been approved by the Specification Committee.; Manual of Testing Procedures

limestone rock asphalt: LRA; Limestone rock asphalt is limestone impregnated with naturally occurring asphalt. NOTE: This definition has been approved by the Specification Committee.; Manual of Testing Procedures

limited access roadway: Limited access roadway is a roadway especially designed for through traffic and over, from, or to which owners or occupants of abutting land or other persons have no right or easement of access by reason of the fact that their property abuts such limited access facility or for any other reason. Interstate highways, parkways, and freeways are usually developed as limited-access facilities.; Access Management Manual

limited central security administrator: LSCA; A limited central security administrator is the highest level of access for the district, division, office, or region (D/D/O/R) security administrators under the distributed security process.; Information Security Manual

limited release for utility work only: Limited release for utility work only is a type of ROW Division release that allows only utility work costs to be charged against the ROW CSJ (-job) number.; ROW Utility Manual

line art: Line art is a black-and-white image, whether raster- or vector-based.; Communications Manual

line: A line is a baseline of roadway.

line number: A line number is the sequential number assigned to certain accounting voucher entries, as on the multi vendor voucher detail, which serves as a reference for research and a computer processing control.

linear material: Linear material, for use as prefabricated pavement marking, is used for longitudinal markings, crossbars, or markings other than the standard symbol or legend material; Manual of Testing Procedures

linear shrinkage: Linear shrinkage means a decrease in a single dimension of specimen of soil mass when moisture content is reduced from liquid limit (LL) to shrinkage limit of the soil; expressed as a percentage of the original dimension of specimen using Test Method TEX-104-E.

liner plate: A liner plate is formed steel unit used to line or reinforce a tunnel or other opening.

link: Links are segments of the network that connect two nodes.; Traffic Data and Analysis Manual

link impedance: Link Impedance is a code assigned to each link of the network that represents travel time or a combination of travel time and distance. Link impedance varies in each traffic assignment iteration based on the volume to capacity ratio calculated for each link in the previous assignment.; Traffic Data and Analysis Manual

liquid-in-glass thermometer: A liquid-in-glass thermometer indicates temperature by the distance a liquid contained in a glass bulb has expanded and traveled into a connecting capillary tube. Mercury or colored alcohols are usually used. The capillary tube above the liquid usually contains a gas such as dry nitrogen. There are three common designs: Complete Immersion, Partial Immersion and Total Immersion.; Manual of Testing Procedures

liquid limit: LL; A liquid limit is the moisture content expressed as a percentage of the weight of over-dried soil, at which soil changes from a plastic to a liquid state. It is the moisture content of a soil at which two halves of a soil part, separated by a grove of standard dimension (1 cm deep) will join at the length of 1/2 inch under impact of 25 blows using the Mechanical Liquid Limit Device, and Test Method “TEX-104-E, Determining Liquid Limits of Soils.” The percent of moisture a soil sample where a decrease in moisture changes from a viscous or liquid state to a plastic one.; Manual of Testing Procedures

liquid state: Liquid state is when the material is wet enough to flow under its own weight.

liquidated damages: Liquidated damages are charges to a contractor, specified in the contract, to be assessed for each day used over the allotted construction contract time. Liquidated damages reflect the costs associated with project completion delays, including administrative and travel delays.

lis pendens: Lis pendens is a written notice that condemnation proceedings have been filed. The notice is usually filed in the county property records office.; Right of Way Collection

listed wastes: Listed wastes are hazardous wastes that have been placed on one of three lists developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.; Environmental Affairs Division

LISTSERV: A LISTSERV is a mailing list program that maintains a variety of mailing lists and distributes information to its subscribers. LISTSERV topics may be carried on a site’s Usenet news groups, or it may come to a user via email.; Information Security Manual

lithification: Lithification is the process of hardening, induration and compaction of sediments, leading to the formation of solid materials. NOTE: This definition has been approved by the Specification Committee.; Manual of Testing Procedures

litter: Litter is trash and/or garbage, including but not limited to scrap metals, rags, paper, wood, plastic, glass, and rubber products including tires that are discarded onto the right of way.; Maintenance Collection

loading: Loading is the load (vertical pressure) per unit area in Kpa (lb/ft2) from both the structure and overburden of each layer of soil involved.; Manual of Testing Procedures

loading frame: A loading frame is a device designed to hold specimens so that controlled force may be applied to them.; Manual of Testing Procedures

load transfer device: Load transfer device is a mechanical means designed to carry loads across a joint in a rigid slab.; Pavement Design Manual

Local Access Management Plan: Local Access Management Plan is a plan or guideline in a formally adopted municipality rule or ordinance that is related to the application of access management within the municipality’s jurisdiction.; Access Management Manual

local access road: A local access road is a local public street or road that is generally parallel to a highway under the jurisdiction of TxDOT. Access for businesses or properties located between the highway and the local access road is provided to the local access road rather than the highway. A local access road may also be called a lateral road, or reverse frontage road, depending on individual location and application.; Access Management Manual

local area network: LAN; A local area network is a network that connects computers that are in a small geographic area, such as a district headquarters or campus.; Information Security Manual

local area network password: LAN password; A local area network password is a password used to authenticate identity to Novell LAN or Windows NT servers.; Information Security Manual

Local Area Network Safety Evaluation Report: LANSER; LANSER is a computer software system incorporating a modular traffic database which enables users to conduct traffic crash analyses and extract historical urban/rural highway and street vehicular crash data that has been reported to and recorded by the Texas Department of Public Safety.; Traffic Operations

local benefit amount: The local benefit amount is the amount of federal funds that will benefit a local jurisdiction as reported during the term of a contract. Upon submission of a final voucher, the costs reported represent the total expenditure amount that will benefit a local jurisdiction.; Finance Division

local city: Local city is a place where MAT maintains an office.

local project: A local project is one whose entire activity is confined within the boundaries of a single TxDOT district. (See also Statewide project.)

local public agency: LPA; A local public agency is any political subdivision of the State such as a city, county or other public agency with legal authority to acquire right of way for highways or public roads and to provide relocation benefits.; Right of Way Manual

local road: A local road is a road that primarily provides access to adjacent land and provides service to motorists over relatively short distances.; Transportation Planning and Programming Collection

local unit cost: LUC; The local unit cost is the cost of sampling one unit in a local city.

local user: A local user is one that is directly connected to the computer system being used through a Local Area Network or similar type of connection.; Information Security Manual

lock seam: A lock seam is a longitudinal seam in a pipe, formed by overlapping or folding the adjacent edges. The seam may be helical.

lock(ed): Locked is when a user is prompted in online terminal session to reenter their password to reactivate the session.

lockout: Lockout is the placement of a lockout device on an energy-isolating device, in accordance with an established procedure, ensuring that the energy-isolating device and the equipment being controlled cannot be operated until the lockout device is removed.; Occupational Safety Manual

lockout date: The lockout date is the date the system is locked and no more entries can be made. Schedules for lockout and unlock dates are sent by the Payroll Branch in August of each year.

lockout device: A lockout device is a device that utilizes a positive means such as a lock, either key or combination type, to hold an energy-isolating device in a safe position and prevent the energizing of a machine or equipment. Blank flanges and bolted ship blinds.; Occupational Safety Manual

lodging expense: Lodging expense means a charge imposed by a provider of lodging as consideration for providing lodging. This term does not include money paid as a donation, gratuity, or tip to the provider.; Travel Manual

logo signing: Logo signing refers to when the logo of specific services is displayed along eligible highways offering business names or trademarks offering gas, food, lodging and camping to the traveling public.

long bolts: Long bolts are bolts that will fit in a direct tension indicator with the required “stick-out.”

long chord: A long chord is the chord of the arc being described. The straight line distance between the Point of Curvature (PC) and the Point of Tangency (PT).

longitudinal cracking: Longitudinal cracking is an asphaltic concrete pavement distress type in which cracks or breaks run approximately parallel to the pavement centerline. Longitudinal cracking ranges from 0 to 999 feet per station.; Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) Rater's Manual

longitudinal joint: A longitudinal joint is a joint placed between traffic lanes to control longitudinal cracking and to facilitate construction, where needed.

longitudinal reinforcement: A longitudinal reinforcement is a steel bar reinforcement placed parallel to the centerline of the roadway in concrete pavement and bridge decks or parallel to the walls in concrete box culverts.

long term residential occupant: A long term, or 180-day, residential occupant is a person who had lawful possession and occupied a dwelling from which he/she is being displaced for at least 180 consecutive days immediately prior to the initiation of negotiations.; Right of Way Manual

lot: Manual of Testing Procedures; Manual of Testing Procedures

lower tier: Lower tier debarment certification - A debarment certification form that is completed by subproviders or other lower tier participants.; Engineering, Architectural and Surveying Services Manual

lower tier debarment certification: Lower tier debarment certification is a debarment certification form that is completed by subproviders or other lower tier participants.; Engineering, Architectural and Surveying Services Manual

lower tier participant: A lower tier participant is a subprovider or other participant in the contract, other than the state, that is not the prime provider.; Engineering, Architectural and Surveying Services Manual

lowest available airfare: Lowest available airfare is the lowest available airfare as quoted in American Airlines' Commercial Sabre reservation system or Worldspan's PARS reservation system.; Travel Manual

low-volume road: Low-volume road is a roadway generally subjected to low levels of traffic.; Pavement Design Manual

Lubbock District: LBB; The Lubbock District is a TxDOT district office including the following counties: Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Crosby, Dawson, Floyd, Gaines, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Parmer, Swisher, Terry, and Yoakum. Area offices are located in Brownfield, Littlefield, Lubbock and Plainview. A Vehicle Titles and Registration Regional Office is also in this district..; Inside TxDOT

Lufkin District: LFK; The Lufkin District is a TxDOT district office including the following counties: Angelina, Houston, Nacogdoches, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, and Trinity. Area offices are located in Livingston, Lufkin, Nacogdoches, and San Augustine.; Inside TxDOT

lumen: lm; Alumen is the unit of quantity of light flux; in other words, the total output of a light source.; Highway Illumination Manual

luminaire: A luminaire is a device that directs, controls, and modifies the light produced by a light source. A luminaire consists of a light source, reflector, refractor, housing, and such support as may be integral with the housing.

lux: (lx); Lux is the metric unit of measurement for the illumination on a surface. (See footcandle for English unit.) One lux is the illumination on a surface one meter from and perpendicular to a uniform point source of one candela.; Highway Illumination Manual