The City of Santa Rosa has named Dan Hennessey as its new director of Transportation and Public Works. Mr. Hennessey was identified after a thorough nationwide search for the right candidate. Mr. Hennessey’s experience spans decades in transportation and mobility planning and traffic engineering, with a focus in multimodal transportation planning and traffic engineering design.
In Mr. Hennessey’s current role, as project development lead for the City of Austin Transportation Department, he oversees the City of Austin’s efforts to bring important infrastructure projects to fruition. Most notably, Mr. Hennessey led the coordination of the new Street Impact Fee program, which provides a new funding stream to improve the City’s transportation infrastructure. Mr. Hennessey also manages a number of special projects, including the Austin Core Transportation (ACT) Plan. The ACT Plan will update our Downtown Mobility Plan and requires planning for and coordination with both the I-35 Capital Express Central and Project Connect efforts, the two largest investments in mobility in Austin’s history.
Mr. Hennessey’s robust experience also includes work on numerous projects in Northern California while at Fehr and Peers including General Plans, Specific Plans, significant freeway and highway infrastructure projects (such as the I-80/I-680/SR 12 interchange project), development in both Central Valley greenfield sites and dense, urban infill sites (such as San Francisco’s Pier 70, Mission Rock, and Chase Center projects), and transformational multimodal improvements (such as the Telegraph Avenue Complete Streets and Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore pedestrian and bicycle improvement projects). Mr. Hennessey also worked on the US-101/Hearn Avenue Interchange PA/Ed as the transportation lead and managed the design work for the 3rd Street lighting improvement project.
“Mr. Hennessey brings an important combination of technical expertise, administrative experience, leadership, fervor for safe and efficient mobility, and passion for community to Team Santa Rosa,” City Manager Maraskeshia Smith said. “I am confident in Mr. Hennessey’s ability to take the City’s vast infrastructure plans across the finish line into successful, award-winning projects.”
“I am honored to help make Santa Rosa a safer, more equitable, and increasingly flourishing place, as the new director of Transportation and Public Works,” explains Dan Hennessey. “I am eager to join the team that transforms our shared vision into a reality that benefits all members of our community.”
Mr. Hennessey replaces Director Jason Nutt who was promoted to assistant city manager. Mr. Hennessey will start on January 29, 2024.
Items from Dan
Dan Hennessey, P.E., PTOE, PTP, RSP1, has been working for more than 15 years in transportation and mobility planning and traffic engineering, with a focus in multimodal transportation planning and traffic engineering design. Dan has developed long-range plans for counties, cities, urban areas, and downtown cores and has done detailed operations and design analysis on major infrastructure projects along freeways and urban roadways, including significant transit corridors. He has led programming efforts to determine funding strategies for municipalities, and his work has combined planning, operations, and maintenance efforts to most efficiently produce results for stakeholders and residents.
As his career has progressed, Dan has taken on increased administrative responsibilities, including rebuilding revenue and accounting models for his firms, creating training programs for his departments, and developing and executing strategic plans. His roles have all required outstanding communication and frequent interactions with the public. He has also been increasingly involved in both technical and professional initiatives regionally and has taken leadership positions in technical committees for nationally recognized organizations. Dan is a recognized Fellow member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) for significant contributions to the profession, for whom he is the Chair of the Transportation Planning Council. Dan graduated from The Ohio State University (B.S., Civil Engineering, 2007) and the University of California, Berkeley (M.S., Civil Engineering, 2008).