Shailen Bhatt, head of the Federal Highway Administration for the past 21 months, left his post at the agency on Sept. 10 to take a senior position with major engineering firm AtkinsRéalis, the company announced on Sept 12.
His departure was reported widely in media outlets over the previous several days.
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation named Kristin White, agency deputy administrator, as acting administrator, effective Sept. 11. White, an attorney by training, joined the agency in July 2023 as chief counsel and was appointed deputy administrator in May. She had been chief operating officer at the non-profit Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
At AtkinsRéalis, formerly SNC Lavalin Group, Bhatt now is senior vice president and chief operating officer for the Montreal-based firm's U.S. and Latin America regions and for its minerals and metals business,
A U.S. DOT spokesperson said in an emailed statement that during Bhatt's tenure, he "played a key role in identifying and implementing tens of thousands of projects" from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as well as in "advancing safety on our nation's highways" and for U.S. transportation system improvements.
According to FHWA, so far it has provided more than $192 billion from the IIJA for fiscal years 2022-2024. In all, the infrastructure measure includes $350 billion in highway programs.
As agency administrator, Bhatt also dealt with some major highway and bridge-related accidents. He was quickly at the scene of the March 26 Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, in which six construction workers died, and at the June 11, 2023, collapse of an Interstate-95 bridge in Philadelphia after it was struck by a tanker truck. The driver was killed in the accident.
The rebuilding team reopened the damaged section in 12 days, then devised a permanent fix, resulting in reopening the bridge in May 2024.
Before joining agency, Bhatt held a variety of transportation positions in the public and private sectors. His government posts include executive director of the Colorado DOT, secretary of the Delaware DOT and as an associate FHWA administrator in the Obama administration.
In the private sector, Bhatt was an executive in AECOM's transportation business and president and CEO of ITS America.
His interest in using technology to improve highway safety was demonstrated last month with FHWA's release of an outline to implement use of vehicle-to-everything, or V2X, connectivity through 2036.
Story updated on 9/14/2024 with data from FHWA about the IIJA.
