George McAuley, deputy secretary of highway administration for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, has been appointed to serve a two-year term as the chair of the steering committee guiding the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Innovation Initiative, known as A.I.I.

[Above photo by PennDOT.]

Formerly called the AASHTO Technology Implementation Group, the A.I.I. aims to advance state DOT innovation. The program invests time and money to accelerate adoption of new innovations by transportation agencies nationwide.

McAuley, appointed deputy secretary in December 2016, graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in civil engineering. He spent his early career as a construction project manager for the Texas Department of Transportation in Houston and then for GAI Consultants before joining PennDOT.

McAuley’s 30-plus-year career at PennDOT includes stints as assistant district executive for construction and assistant district executive for maintenance for the agency’s District 10 division based in Indiana, PA.

During that time, he led a cooperative effort with the Pennsylvania Asphalt Pavement Association and the Federal Highway Administration on a quality management pilot program for asphalt paving labeled Pasin and aided in the advancement of Pennsylvania’s Rapid Bridge Replacement Public Private Partnership or P3 contract.