We’re losing a good one

Department of Transportation director leaves behind a lasting legacy in Southern Nevada

Susan Martinovich, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, is interviewed during a groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. 95 Corridor Improvement Project in the Santa Fe Station parking garage Tuesday, August 3, 2010. Elements of the project include widening roads, improving interchanges and constructing sound walls.

Richard N. Velotta

Richard N. Velotta

Susan Martinovich looked a little uncomfortable when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Sen. Harry Reid singled her out for recognition at a recent event at McCarran International Airport.

LaHood and Reid had just rattled through a list of Southern Nevada transportation projects that had been completed in the past year as they bid farewell to Martinovich, who this month is retiring as director of the Nevada Department of Transportation after nearly 30 years with the agency.

Martinovich is the kind of public servant you want to have. She’s only held the directorship since 2007, but she has served a number of roles within the department since graduating with an engineering degree from UNR.

“She’s unusual in that not only is she a highly trained professional engineer who possesses a lot of the stereotypical traits of being precise and accurate with a great technical background, but she’s got great social skills and is an outstanding public speaker,” said Jacob Snow, formerly the general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission.

“She brought equity for transportation projects back to Southern Nevada,” added Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown. “Real or perceived, it always seemed we weren’t getting the attention we needed from NDOT, but we did in the past decade when she was in top-level leadership positions.”

Martinovich’s fingerprints are on many of the freeway projects that have helped Southern Nevadans escape gridlock. She pushed for making the widening of Interstate 15 north of the Spaghetti Bowl a money-saving design-build project that got it completed faster and at a lower cost. She also helped design the I-15 widening project south of Tropicana Avenue, the U.S. 95 widening in the northwest valley, the high-occupancy vehicle lanes on U.S. 95 and the Pat Tillman-Mike O’Callaghan Memorial Bridge over the Colorado River near the Hoover Dam.

While freeways and bridges are the evidence of Martinovich’s work, Snow said she has been a leader in emphasizing safety measures at the federal level. She collaborated with transportation officials in California, for instance, on projects that make the drive from Los Angeles safer for the thousands of tourists every weekend.

Martinovich also was the visionary behind the creation of the I-15 Mobility Alliance, a collaboration of transportation leaders from California, Nevada and Arizona, and was the first woman to lead the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which advocates transportation-related policies and provides technical services to states.

Martinovich will be missed, but local transportation leaders are confident her policies will endure. Rudy Malfabon, who was deputy director under Martinovich, will replace her.

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