State transportation head Doug MacDonald to resign

Doug MacDonald, head of the state Department of Transportation, announced today that he is leaving the job he has held for six years.

"It's time to move onto other things in life," said MacDonald, 62. "I feel much satisfaction, but it is time for me to step aside. I'm going to do new things and I feel good about it."

He said he plans to resign July 30.

"Any given day you could love him or hate him," said Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen. "Doug has done a really superb job. What a mess it was in when he took over. He helped us put credibility back into the department."

MacDonald has been in the hot seat for many years, most notably on the debate over how to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the failed effort to build a dry-dock project on the Port Angeles waterfront.

State construction crews accidentally unearthed an ancient tribal village in 2003, leading the state to sign an agreement that gives the Lower Elwha Klallam people land to rebury more than 335 tribal ancestors that were unearthed at the site.

The state Department of Transportation mistakenly disturbed the village of Tse-whit-zen and human remains. The department stopped the project, which was needed to repair the Hood Canal Bridge, at the request of the tribe in December 2004, after spending about $90 million.

MacDonald said he considered making a change when he turned 62 earlier this month and realized he'd been at his job for six years. He said he recently looked at an e-mail he sent employees when he started his job, "and I did exactly what I said I'd do. It's been a good run."

But he's sometimes been in trouble with Gov. Christine Gregoire over his candid talk. "I'm too out there," he said. "The governor regards me as a bit of high maintenance."

Still, he said, the decision to leave was his alone. "There was no indication the governor would fire me, and I did not do this to pre-empt that."

"I think it's a loss for the state," said Ed Murray, vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. "Doug has been instrumental in getting projects completed on time and on budget, and that's no small thing in the transportation world. Wherever we've seen successes, it's been because Doug has been involved."

Murray said MacDonald deserves credit for approaching problems head-on, even if it meant being skewered on talk radio or receiving angry e-mails from constituents. "He got out there and mixed it up and gained respect," Murray said. "He brought a level of trust to the department."

Duke Schaub, director of government affairs for the Association of General Contractors, said his organization has had a good working relationship with MacDonald, but the two have not always been in harmony.

"He's been very good for the department raising awareness with the public about the good things the department does," he said.

Schaub said the AGC and MacDonald tangled over a disparity study the DOT did last year about whether or not minorities were getting enough work on state projects. "We had some differences with (the DOT) on underlying assumptions. Our concerns were pretty much ignored," Schaub said.

Another criticism he's heard is that MacDonald runs his department with an iron fist. "He's not open to appeals of his decisions if folks in the department think he made a wrong call," said Schaub.

MacDonald was known throughout the department for his workaholic passion; he would routinely send e-mails in the middle of the night. Even constituents who had a complaint about the department would get a personal reply from MacDonald.

Many credit his leadership for the failure of a ballot measure that would have repealed the most-recent gas-tax increase and put many highway projects, including the viaduct, in jeopardy

He said he's most proud of a $388 million project that will build a new six-lane Interstate 90 highway from Hyak to Keechelus Dam, bypassing areas of recent rock slides. Work is set to begin in 2011.

He said he's most exasperated by the problems in deciding how to build new ferry boats.

MacDonald took over the department in April 2001 and it was a homecoming of sorts for the man who grew up on Mercer Island and spent his free time sailing on Lake Washington and hiking in the mountains.

He went to Harvard, where he earned his law degree and spent two years in Africa with the Peace Corps. He then practiced law, worked as chief legal counsel to the Massachusetts Port Authority and, in 1992, became head of the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority, the agency in charge of a controversial, multibillion-dollar cleanup of Boston Harbor.

MacDonald has two grown sons, one who lives in Vermont and the other in Seattle. He had to give up his car last year when he failed the vision test when he tried to get his license renewed. MacDonald, a diabetic, has a degenerative eye disease that is robbing him of his sight.

MacDonald is known for his hand-on approach to his job. When a rock slide killed three women on Snoqualmie Pass in 2005, MacDonald drove to the site and comforted the family of the women. When his department prepared a report on the accident, MacDonald tucked a psalm into the end of his summary.

The day after a highway worker collapsed and died while clearing snow east of Stevens Pass, MacDonald drove all the way out there to visit with grieving crew members. MacDonald said one of his favorite things to do is ride the ferry and talk to the crew, or head up to Snoqualmie Pass and meet with those plowing the roads.

He tires of meetings, and said often he'll be at a meeting, leave for a bathroom break, and walk out the door and not come back for an hour and a half.

As for the Tse-whit-zen episode in Port Angeles, which some say marks the darkest days of his DOT career, MacDonald said it was one of the most important experiences he had.

"It was a very painful thing to go through, but it contributed to a change in the landscape of relationships with natives and non-natives.

"People see it as the most difficult of things I had my fingers into. It was a hard experience to go through, but not unrewarding. Everyone learned through it and grew. It was a difficult experience I wish I had not had."

As for the viaduct, the state is studying two options for replacing the aging bridge, a tunnel or another elevated viaduct. Seattle voters in March rejected both, and no decision has been made.

His successes include the near completion of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a new Bellevue transportation project that came in on budget, and his work to put toll lanes on state highways.. He also gets high marks for putting more accountability into the DOT.

MacDonald said he plans to move to Seattle, but has no immediate job prospects. He said he does not plan to practice law.

MacDonald says he does not know who might replace him.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com