FHWA Chooses Deputy Administrator
This story appears in the July 13 print edition of Transport Topics.
Gregory Nadeau, a former official with the Maine Department of Transportation, was appointed deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced July 1.
Nadeau, who was deputy commissioner for policy, planning and communications with MDOT since 2002, officially started in his new federal role on July 8, DOT said.
“Greg’s background is ideal for the Federal Highway Administration,” FHWA Executive Director Jeffrey Paniati said in a statement. “He brings a unique combination of transportation and legislative experience. His strong background in economic development will be a valuable asset as we work to support our economic recovery.”
According to DOT, Nadeau was a member of Maine’s House of Representatives for 12 years and, before joining Maine DOT, was a senior policy adviser to Gov. Angus King (I) from 1995 to 2002.
In Maine, Nadeau “managed the state’s transportation planning, freight and business services. He also served on the Maine Turnpike Authority’s board of directors and was the state transportation department’s liaison to Maine’s congressional delegation,” DOT said.
“He’s been pretty good to work with,” Dale Hanington, president of the Maine Motor Transport Association, told Transport Topics.
Hanington said MMTA had worked with Nadeau on “several issues through the Maine Department of Transportation,” ranging from “highway funding issues to incident response.”
Hanington said through his work with Nadeau, he believed the new FHWA official to have a “favorable” view of trucking.
“As with a lot of DOT types, he does talk a lot about intermodalism, but I think he does understand the importance of trucking,” Hanington said. “He’s very familiar with the industry, so I believe he’ll be approachable.”
While Nadeau was with Maine DOT, Hanington said, the trucking group worked with the agency to try to raise the maximum truck weight on interstate highways in the state to match the state’s limit of 100,000 pounds for other roads.
“He’s familiar with all the issues and that’s one of the issues that we’ve worked with the department on,” Hanington said. “They have been supportive of allowing state truck weights on the interstate, and that’s been basically our issue for a number of years.”
FHWA is the agency within DOT that regulates truck weights, currently set at 80,000 pounds on most interstate highways.
Several times in recent years, including earlier this year, members of Maine’s congressional delegation have pushed for changes to federal truck size-and-weight laws to allow larger trucks on Interstate 95 in the state.
Most recently, at a June 19 hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s panel overseeing DOT, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood “to work with Maine officials on both sides of the aisle, state and federal, to help us develop a plan to remedy what is a serious safety and commerce issue.”
LaHood has said the department is examining the truck-size issues. During his June 2 confirmation hearing, Victor Mendez, the Obama administration’s choice to head FHWA, said addressing truck-size and weight limits was “a challenge” and that productivity and safety must be considered if any change is to be made.
