Construction and public service have defined the career of William Pines, Administrator for the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA). Born and raised on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Pines spent his summers working at his father’s masonry business, where he developed an appreciation and pride for construction work.
“I got a love for construction and building things — being in this business and industry from my father,” Pines said. “I remember getting up early and riding around with my father in his work truck and him saying something like, ‘Hey, I worked on that foundation,’ or ‘I did that front on that house.’”
Today, Pines shares those same moments with his own children.
Pines’ journey at SHA began when he started an internship at the agency after his sophomore year at the University of Maryland. That summer was enough to convince the engineering student that bridge projects suited him.
“I liked the feel of bridges when I was out in the field during the internship,” he said.
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Pines has worked at other organizations throughout his career, including the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA), where he led several significant state projects:
- Nice/Middleton Bridge replacement
- I-895 bridge and tunnel
- Baltimore Harbor Tunnel rehabilitation
- I-95 Express Toll Lanes
Pines was willing to take big risks and make major career changes, including moving from engineering and construction into operations — a transition that broadened his perspective and prepared him to become an executive at MDTA and SHA.
“I was able to understand the bigger picture of the organization and rounded out my experience,” Pines said.
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During his time as a Junior Engineer, Pines said he never imagined he would one day lead SHA as Administrator. Others, however, saw that potential long before he did. One of the executives referred to him as “YAP,” an abbreviation for Young Administrator Pines.
The Maryland State Highway Administration oversees the state’s highway system and is responsible for its construction, operations, and maintenance. Pines leads the organization’s 3,000 transportation professionals. SHA owns, operates, and maintains roughly 18,000 lane miles of non-toll roads and more than 2,500 bridges across the state.
Since becoming Administrator in August 2023, Pines has focused on leadership visibility and employee engagement.
“Today's workforce really needs a leader that's willing to be engaged more tactically and out working with the team on a regular basis,” Pines said. “So, I try to be as present as I can with the team.”
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Ultimately, Pines is determined to build a legacy during his tenure as the agency's head. And that starts and ends with people.
“While some organizations and some leaders focus a lot on their projects, we say at State Highway we're a people-first organization,” he said.
That mantra emerged partly out of necessity. When Pines became Administrator, SHA’s vacancy rate was 12.1 percent, making it hard to keep up with the workload. The agency has cut that number by more than half, with the vacancy rate falling below 6 percent since November 2024.
Even as transportation organizations around the country are struggling to hire and maintain a talented workforce, SHA has been able to drastically drop its vacancy rate. The first step that Pines took to achieve this was the retooling of SHA’s hiring process.
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“We make sure that we’re going as fast and as streamlined as we possibly can to get people in the door,” he said.
But hiring alone is not enough. Retention, Pines said, requires treating employees well, giving them engaging work, and helping them grow.
Pines takes great pride in the investments he has made in his team and is driven by SHA’s strategic plan, which focuses on team excellence.
“I say it all the time — I don't just want a good team. I want world-class leaders who are recognized throughout [the] industry as best in class,” Pines said. “I want Maryland to be acknowledged as world-class leaders in transportation.”
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SHA also creates opportunities for growth. In the last two years, 175 SHA employees have participated in internal and external leadership development programs.
“It's all about having a bedrock of solid, trusted leaders that our entire workforce can feel is better technically at leading and making sure we've got top-shelf bosses that people want to stay working for,” Pines said. “As they say, ‘People don't leave bad jobs; they leave bad bosses.’”
For Pines, community engagement is one of the most meaningful aspects of the job. SHA team members aim to uphold customer service standards and are asked to commit to a service pledge centered on integrity.
That commitment means showing up, even during difficult situations, and “showing the world that we are real human beings and that we care about issues,” Pines said.
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He recalled attending a meeting after two children were hit and killed in the Wheaton and Kensington area a couple of years ago. There were around 300 people in attendance.
“I met the father who lost his sons and talked through what that experience was like and what we need to do as an organization to address that concern,” Pines said.
“I'm not afraid to go into the fire to deal with issues directly,” he added. “Folks can feel that we're in this with them and that when we say we're people first, we're not bureaucrats hiding in an office somewhere.”
Understanding community and customer needs is central to SHA’s mission.
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“It’s incredibly important for us to deliver value so that we can tangibly show our worth,” Pines said.
Like government transportation agencies across the country, SHA is dealing with funding challenges due to the skyrocketing costs of construction. Since 2022, the industry has seen prices rise by 41 percent, forcing agencies to stretch limited funding further while balancing growing transportation demands.
“My goal as a leader is not to complain about the timeline on the reauthorization for the next big transportation bill at the federal level, but to control what I can control,” Pines said.
Pines is approaching the funding issue strategically.
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“I have to be data-driven and prioritize the work that we do really effectively so that I can clearly communicate the results we're delivering and why we're choosing to put money where we do — and to deliver projects as streamlined as possible,” he said.
SHA is striving to keep project scopes as tight as possible to avoid impacts. However, Pines and the agency are trying to reach as many communities as possible.
“I want to do small, proven measures that are low cost everywhere throughout the state — making a difference across our system and network rather than [spending] a lot of money in one spot,” Pines said.
In instances where communities might request more extensive upgrades, Pines explained that it takes discipline and courage to say, "If I give you that, this other community that has a similar problem will get nothing."
While Maryland’s bridge infrastructure remains in strong condition due to significant investment, other infrastructure categories — particularly pavement — require additional attention. Pines is focused on changing that through his asset management strategy.
“I want us, as an organization, to have an asset management approach that's based on data,” he said, “and mak[ing] sure that we're allocating our resources and our funding across the system to optimize the performance of the system, not just having one asset class that's really good and many others that are not.”
Currently, SHA is in the early stages of a $7.8 billion, six-year transportation program running from 2026 to 2031. Upcoming projects include:
- $197 million U.S. 15 project that will widen U.S. 15 in Frederick County
- $175 million mobility project for I-81 in Washington County
- $50 million pedestrian and bike safety project on Maryland 97 in Montgomery County
- $33 million multimodal improvement project on Maryland Mills 5 in southern Maryland
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Shortly after Pines assumed his role as Administrator of SHA, he traveled to SHA locations across the state to gather employee feedback and ideas for the agency’s future. Thousands of ideas were collected and reviewed by Pines and his team, which helped shape SHA’s current strategic plan using employee input.
The plan comprises 80 goals that the executive team is working through. They are currently 30 percent complete. As part of his commitment to putting people first, Pines is focused on completing that employee-driven plan and achieving every single one of those goals.
