SPC Announces Doug Smith as New Transportation Planning Director
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission announced on January 1st that Doug Smith is its new Transportation Planning Director. “Doug is hitting the ground running,” said Jim Hassinger, SPC Executive Director. “He is making plans for advancing our continuing process of improving transportation planning for the region as we prepare the long range plan for adoption this summer and begin work on the next Transportation Improvement Program.”
Doug is well prepared for the job - a registered professional engineer and cum laude graduate of West Virginia University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. He has been with SPC since 2002 and has led innovative work in development of the regional congestion management process, regional system operations planning, road safety audit program, transportation enhancements program, coordination of the region’s traffic incident management program including multi-state training with Ohio and West Virginia, incorporation of advanced wireless technology in travel time and congestion analysis, and other SPC initiatives to enhance the use of technical tools in project evaluation and analysis for the region’s long range plan and Transportation Improvement Program.
Doug has previously worked in private sector transportation consulting in Pennsylvania, an MPO in West Virginia, and a state DOT in South Carolina with experience in project estimating and technical evaluation including highway and transit, traffic impact studies and the development of intelligent transportation systems. He has been called on by the Federal Highway Administration to provide best practice peer training for other metropolitan planning organizations.
Doug is a veteran of the naval reserves, with service in West Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama, overseeing training in mobilization, readiness and construction. He has been active as a community volunteer in Scouting and youth baseball, and as a trail volunteer, having contributed over 4,000 hours of community service time.
“Doug is a very conscientious, positive-minded professional,” said Hassinger. “All transportation professionals who know him already respect his talent and his willingness to work with people to get the job done right. We look forward to a great new year with Doug as SPC’s Transportation Planning Director!”
