MARSHALL, TX — Wendy Starkes, PE has been named as the new Area Engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) office in Marshall. The TxDOT Marshall Area Office is responsible for highways maintenance and construction in Harrison, Marion, and Panola counties.

“We feel very fortunate to have someone of Wendy’s knowledge and experience coming in to replace Ray Brady,” said Mike Anderson, District Engineer for TxDOT in Atlanta. “She is already familiar with the roadways and the construction projects in the area.”

Starkes, a native of East Texas, earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in May 1999 and accepted a full-time position at TxDOT in the Tyler District Central Design office.

She obtained her professional engineering license in 2003 and participated in the engineering rotation program in the Tyler District where she performed construction inspection, traffic engineering, maintenance operations, as well as design development. In 2011, she became the Tyler District Maintenance Engineer where she served until transferring to the Maintenance Division in Austin in 2016.

During her time at the MNT Division, Starkes was instrumental in helping rollout and teach the Advance Maintenance Contract Inspector training course. She helped raise the level of customer service statewide at the Safety Rest Areas. She also worked numerous hours during Hurricane Harvey in TxDOT’s Emergency Operation Center. In May of 2019, Starkes accepted a position in the Atlanta District as the Maintenance Engineer, where she helped develop some of the department’s first Maintenance Material Contracts.