Press Releases

For Immediate Release

CLAUSEN SELECTED TO HEAD NEW MTC SECTION

CONTACT:

Réka Goode
510/464-7706

Marjorie Blackwell
510/464-7884

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 29, 1998 . . . Thomas J. Clausen has been appointed as manager of the newly formed Bridge and Highway Operations section of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

Coming to MTC after six years at the city of Concord, Calif., where his most recent title was director of Engineering and Transportation, Clausen is a registered civil and traffic engineer. His previous experience includes positions with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Contra Costa County and the cities of Berkeley and San Leandro, as well 10 years as a transportation consultant.

The new section he heads at MTC serves as staff for the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA), which was created by the California Legislature in 1997 to administer the base $1 toll on the San Francisco Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges. MTC began operations as BATA on Jan. 1, 1998.

The Bridge and Highway Operations section also consolidates under one umbrella other highway-related projects with which MTC has been involved for a number of years -- the motorist-aid Bay Area Freeway Service Patrol and roadside call box network, and the computer-based Pavement Management System that assists local jurisdictions in maintaining their roadways.

Clausen holds a bachelor's and master's degree in engineering science (civil-transportation) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's in public administration from California State University, Hayward. He recently began a three-year term as an international director representing thirteen western states on the board of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a professional organization with 15,000 members in 80 countries. He also is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Public Works Association.

MTC is the regional transportation planning, funding and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.