Allen D. Biehler, P.E.
Secretary
of Transportation - Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Secretary Allen D.
Biehler leads the Department of Transportation (PENNDOT), an organization of
nearly 12,000 people with an annual budget in excess of $5 billion. PENNDOT operates the nation’s fifth largest
state-owned highway system and administers one of the nation’s largest grant
programs for mass transit, rail freight, and aviation.
In 2009, Secretary Biehler
served a one-year term as President of the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Washington, D.C.-based
organization that represents the departments of transportation in the 50
states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Under Secretary
Biehler’s leadership, PennDOT is improving project delivery processes and
ensuring that projects are appropriate for the surrounding community and fit
known resources, an initiative known as Smart Transportation. PennDOT is also
in the midst of improving maintenance operations with an eye to taking
advantage of technology to deliver appropriate levels of service at the lowest
cost. In addition, PennDOT is working with metropolitan and rural planning
organizations to focus available resources to system preservation. And under
the Secretary’s leadership, PennDOT is focusing its safety initiatives under a
Drive Safe PA brand.
At Governor Rendell’s
direction, Secretary Biehler headed the nine-member, bipartisan Transportation
Funding and Reform Commission that spent nearly two years studying the spectrum
of transportation funding and needs issues and delivered a comprehensive
roadmap for solutions to the problems.
A Professional Engineer,
Mr. Biehler is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in
civil engineering, and holds a master’s equivalent certificate in
transportation from Yale University. His
career covers more than 35 years in transportation engineering, planning,
construction administration, and public transportation management. Mr. Biehler has served on various AASHTO
committees, the Transportation Research Board, the American Public
Transportation Association, and the University of Pittsburgh. He has written articles for national
transportation professional journals and received a Distinguished Alumnus Award
from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997.
