The new director of the Missouri Department of Transportation is Ed Hassinger who’s been with the organization for 40 years. Hassinger has served as interim director as well as chief engineer of MoDOT since former Director Patrick McKenna retired in September.
During a press conference Wednesday morning, Hassinger said MoDOT has a level of funding for roads and bridges that it hasn’t had before. The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission in July approved a multi-billion-dollar Statewide Transportation Improvement Program or STIP, and he said MoDOT needs to be accountable for that.
"We have to deliver that program, $14.6 billion five-year plan, the biggest we've ever had at MoDOT in our history," he said, "and to be accountable to the citizens of Missouri, the legislature and the commission to deliver that is one of the key roles that I'm going to have to deliver as director and this team around me is going to do."
He said he’ll also work to recruit more workers on the operational side for things like mowing and dead animal removal. According to Hassinger, MoDOT has had a loss of more than two million labor hours of work over the last decade. He promised to invest in their team and make sure they’re market competitive.modot
MoDOT said in a news release the commission and Director Hassinger will work collaboratively with a new advisory council that will be formed. It will be made up of representatives of the department’s key stakeholders including key elected officials, local planning partners, the MoDOT contractor community, state and local economic development and others critical to delivering the 5-year plan's transportation improvements.
"Efforts will focus on review and fine-tuning of MoDOT's organization to strengthen its commitment to several key areas of continuous improvement critical to project delivery success and operations.
These include:
1. Safety in all operations and project management;
2. Outreach to and coordination with state leadership and elected officials to make the STIP process as locally driven as possible with sensitivity to timely local needs as they arise;
3. Build even closer partnership with the department's critical private sector contractor community and regional planning partners;
4. Recruit and retain the essential and valued MoDOT workforce;
5. Increase focus on operational needs to keep MoDOT's system maintained, useable, clean, and responsive to citizen reported upkeep; and,
6. Innovate and use technology for the future to maximize efficiency and cost-effective delivery of programs and services."
