Shailen Bhatt stepping down as FHWA administrator

Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt is leaving his post on Sept. 10, the agency has confirmed with Land Line.

Current FHWA Deputy Administrator Kristin White will lead the agency in an acting capacity following Bhatt’s departure.

No reason was given for why Bhatt is leaving, but a recent report from Politico said that the administrator was taking a job in the private sector.

Bhatt was sworn in as FHWA’s leader on Jan. 13, 2023. Before taking that role, Bhatt worked for state Departments of Transportation in Kentucky, Delaware and Colorado. He also previously served as FHWA’s associate administrator for highway policy and external affairs.

White was named FHWA’s deputy administrator in May. Before that, she became the agency’s chief counsel in 2023.

During Bhatt’s tenure, he worked toward implementing V2X technology, as well as an infrastructure for electric vehicles.

In June, Bhatt was questioned about the lack of charging stations available nationwide during a Senate hearing. As part of Bhatt’s testimony, he said that the number of publicly available electric vehicle charging ports had increased by 90% with more than 183,000 across the country. However, the majority of the ports were created by the private sector. Bhatt said that only “dozens” were created with public funds.

Other DOT agencies

Following Bhatt’s departure, FHWA, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will all be led by acting administrators.

Vinn White serves as FMCSA’s acting administrator, and Sophie Shulman became NHTSA’s acting administrator after Ann Carlson stepped down. President Joe Biden nominated Carlson in February to lead NHTSA, following the departure of Steven Cliff. However, Biden withdrew that nomination in May after Carlson failed to receive Senate confirmation. Carlson has served as NHTSA’s acting administrator since September 2022. LL