MA RCH 2017
VOLUME 25 | ISSUE 3
Culpeper District construction staff tested the autonomous emergency braking feature in a demonstration vehicle from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety at the 2017 inspectors conference. See page 4.
PUBLISHED FOR AND ABOUT VDOT’S CULPEPER DISTRICT TEAM Albemarle
Culpeper
Fauquier
Fluvanna
Greene
Louisa
Madison
Orange
Rappahannock
Culpeper Welcomes Traffic Engineering Section
Group's focus remains the same: safety, mobility on district's roads In January, Culpeper District gained 22 employees — though most are far from new to the agency. The additional manpower comes as the result of de-regionalizing and separating traffic engineering from the operations function, a move first announced by Commissioner Charlie Kilpatrick in September 2016. The two areas had been combined and concentrated in five regions since the late 2000s, with Northwest Regional Operations (NWRO) covering Culpeper and Staunton. Now, with an increasing workload and highly trained staff across the state, traffic engineering has made its return to the districts. Under the leadership of District Maintenance Engineer David Pearce and District Traffic Engineer Nathan Umberger, the new section is
organized into two work groups. The Traffic Engineering section, led by Ali Farhangi, will continue to handle traffic and safety studies, sign and marking plan review on construction projects, traffic-control device design and the highway safety program. The team of nine will also take on expanded duties in areas like project management and work zone support. The Traffic Control Device Maintenance section will be managed by Richie Zambrotta, who transferred from his most recent role as the Yancey Mills AHQ superintendent. Richie oversees the district signing, pavement-marking and signal crews, which total 14 employees. This group also handles lighting maintenance and historical markers. Continues on page 3