ATLANTA, GA — The Board of Directors of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) elected Russell R. McMurry, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), as its 2025-2026 President.
“AASHTO has been instrumental throughout my career, and I’m honored to serve as its President,” McMurry said. “State DOTs are essential to delivering a safe, efficient, multimodal transportation system, and I’m committed to supporting that work — especially as we prepare for the next federal surface transportation reauthorization. Together, we will continue focusing on reducing roadway fatalities and improving project delivery. I look forward to working with my colleagues in what will be a very important year.” Originally joining GDOT as an Engineering Intern in 1990, McMurry has held a variety of positions within the department including Chief Engineer. In 2015, he was appointed Commissioner by a unanimous vote of the Georgia State Transportation Board and has served in the role for more than a decade. During that time, he has worked closely with AASHTO — previously serving as the organization’s Vice President and Treasurer and serving on numerous committees, most recently leading AASHTO’s Transportation Policy Forum. McMurry graduated cum laude from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Georgia. Over his career, McMurry has received numerous accolades. Earlier this year, he received the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) America Lifetime Achievement Award and was elected to the ITS World Congress Hall of Fame. Under McMurry’s direction, AASHTO will focus on what he deems going “back to the basics”: Advancing critical federal surface transportation funding through reauthorization; expanding efficiency in project delivery; and enhancing safety through technological enhancements. His presidential emphasis areas will specifically feature:
AASHTO is working to support Congress in enacting a new long-term federal surface transportation bill that reauthorizes the federal highway, highway safety, transit, and rail programs before the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ends. To advocate for those goals, AASHTO will urge Congress to refocus the federal transportation program around formula funding and strategically deploying discretionary grants, along with coordinating with industry partners to help “connect the dots” with members of Congress on the role and importance of the formula programs to advance projects in every congressional district across the nation.
AASHTO will focus on finding opportunities to expand efficiency in project delivery to help bring projects to communities in a timely manner. This includes supporting the delegation of federal authorities to interested states, working with Congress and the administration to implement Build America, Buy America in a strategic way, and developing tools to assist in co-location and collaboration of federal resource agencies involved in reviewing environmental documents.
AASHTO’s core mission is safety. Through the next year, AASHTO will support state DOTs in their work to leverage technological advancements, establish new partnerships, and strengthen existing ones to further promote a nationwide culture of safety and support evolving strategies for addressing safety issues related to all elements of a safe transportation system.
