The Missouri Department of Transportation’s new director has worked within the department for over 40 years.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission announced Wednesday that Ed Hassinger will be the new director of the department.
“I want to just highlight that we're building on a foundation here, those that have come before us, in commissions previous and leaders in the department that have built the foundation, we are standing on the foundation that they have built, and we're going to take that to the next level and deliver,” Hassinger said.
Hassinger, whose first day is Wednesday, is replacing Patrick McKenna, who served from 2015 until he left for a different job in September.
Hassinger, 63, holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and is a registered professional engineer.
Prior to this appointment, Hassinger was serving as the interim director after McKenna’s departure. He has also served as deputy director the past five years.
Some of the things Hassinger said he wants to emphasize include working on and completing projects within the department’s five-year plan. He said he also wants to restore the operational capacity of the department.
“We've had a loss of over 2 million labor hours of work over the last decade. We need to restore that. The citizens expect that we're going to do those things. Their expectations are that their roadways look good and that they ride good,” Hassinger said.
Speaking on why Hassinger was selected, commission Chair Dustin Boatwright said members felt a strong obligation to “ensure continuity during this time of unprecedented project construction."
“That requires somebody who can hit the ground running with years of project management experience and a track record of fostering leadership development within the department,” Boatwright said.
One of the projects MoDOT is in the middle of is expanding Interstate 70 to three lanes in both directions. That project has started and is slated to be ongoing until 2030.
According to MoDOT, Hassinger as well as the commission will be working with a new advisory council that consists of elected officials, local planning partners and others described as “representatives of the department’s key stakeholders.”
The department said the council will focus on areas that would help with project success and improvement like recruiting and retaining MoDOT employees and operational needs to keep roads maintained.
