AASHTO Journal, 15 January 2016
The Transportation Research Board presented its W.N. Carey Jr. Distinguished Service Award for 2015 to Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle , citing Steudle’s “outstanding service to TRB and transportation research.”
The presentation took place Jan. 13, during the chairman’s luncheon at the TRB’s 95th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
SteudleSteudle is also a past president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
The Carey Award recognizes individuals who have given leadership and distinguished service to the TRB, but who have not necessarily been personally active in transportation research. It is named for the board’s director from 1967 until 1980.
A September announcement that he would receive the award also said Steudle is a “national leader in the development of connected vehicle technology,” and noted his extensive service on national transportation committees.
“During Steudle’s service to TRB,” it said, “he has been a member of numerous committees, panels, and task forces in addition to chairing the executive committee, oversight committee for the second Strategic Highway Research Program and committee on SHRP 2 implementation, as well as National Cooperative Highway Research Program panels on developing an asset management plan for the Interstate Highway System and on administration of highway and transportation agencies.”
The chairman’s luncheon brochure noted that while Steudle chaired the TRB Executive Committee, he helped oversee development and adoption of a new strategic plan for the organization, helped improve its efforts to promote research into connected and automated vehicles, and helped choose Neil Pedersen as the new executive director.
Steudle also oversaw the move of the TRB annual meeting from a group of hotels in northwest Washington to the downtown convention center where all its sessions could be under one roof.