ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Department of Transportation announced the appointment of Tom Blair as the new district engineer for the St. Louis district.
Blair has served as assistant district engineer in MoDOT’s St. Louis district since 2006. His responsibilities included maintenance, traffic engineering and Gateway Guide’s intelligent transportation operations. In 2015, he led MoDOT’s Road to Tomorrow team, exploring innovations that could generate new revenue for transportation in Missouri. That effort received national recognition by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Tom began his career as a construction inspector in MoDOT’s Northwest district in 1993. Since that time he also served as resident engineer and area engineer.
Blair has played a crucial role in creating effective partnerships to manage traffic incidents, improve mobility, freight and safety initiatives throughout the St. Louis metropolitan region. He organized MoDOT and regional transportation partners’ efforts to manage traffic during the two-year rebuild of I-64. That effort won many national and regional awards. He was instrumental in establishing a process to encourage municipalities to pass local primary safety belt ordinances. He also led efforts to make National Incident Management System (NIMS) practices the standard for managing district incidents such as winter operations and region-wide work zone management. His commitment to community health and safety inspired him to create the St. Louis Work Zone Awareness 5K Run/Walk in the St. Louis district.
“I look forward to leading the MoDOT St. Louis team in being a partner that collaboratively improves our region’s mobility,” he said.
Tom has a Civil Engineering degree from Iowa State University and a Masters in Engineering Management from Missouri S&T. He is a registered professional Engineer in Missouri and has served as President of the St. Louis Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.