After more than two decades in public transportation leadership roles, Victoria Sheehan has joined HDR to lead the firm’s top-ranked global highways and roads program.

As highways and roads director, Sheehan will set the vision and direction for continued growth and delivery of HDR’s expansive highway program. Based in Washington, D.C., she will be responsible for more than 3,500 global employees who provide a diversified portfolio of services tailored to the needs of departments of transportation, toll facilities, municipalities and other roadway infrastructure owners worldwide. These professionals assist highways and roads clients with everything from navigating funding and stakeholder engagement, to managing program development and design, to providing construction management for new and established projects.

Sheehan joins HDR from the Transportation Research Board, one of the four research centers of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, where she was executive director of the eminent research organization. Prior to her work at TRB, she led the New Hampshire Department of Transportation for seven years, preceded by 10 years at the Massachusetts DOT. She also served as president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) from 2020-2021. Sheehan holds a master’s degree in structural engineering and architecture from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

“Joining HDR represents an exciting new step in my career, but also a continuation of many of the themes that have defined it already,” said Sheehan. “At TRB, we had more than 100 standing committees addressing every aspect of transportation including the benefits of improved coordination across disciplines. HDR embodies that same multidisciplinary emphasis in its approach to projects, providing amazing value to our clients and communities.”

HDR’s highways and roads program has active projects in every U.S. state, as well as in Canada, Australia and the Middle East. Those projects include program management on the 20-year effort to update the SR 520 corridor in Washington State, planning and advisory services for the first-of-its-kind New York City Central Business District Tolling, a highly technical design for the unique I-395 Signature Bridge in Miami, and lead design on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion, the largest transportation project in Virginia’s history.

“Victoria has been a partner in the transportation industry for many years,” said Transportation President Tom McLaughlin. “As we continue to build upon our past success and implement new initiatives to support career development, delivery innovation, and program growth, her leadership experience and knowledge of transportation will be invaluable to our clients, our colleagues and our communities.”

About HDR

HDR is a 100% employee-owned professional services firm. Founded over a century ago to bring electricity to a changing world, we are now a global company specializing in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services. Our success in built and natural environments continues as we collaborate to solve our clients’ and communities’ most complex challenges.  For more information, please visit www.hdrinc.com.