January 12, 2009

Charlotte, NC - City Manager Curt Walton announced today that Interim Director Danny Pleasant will become permanent Director of the Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) effective January 12, 2009.  Pleasant has dedicated his 25-plus year career to helping fast-growing Sunbelt cities build quality communities using thoughtful transportation planning and investment strategies, with the last seven years serving in executive leadership positions in CDOT.

CDOT is the City's fourth largest key business unit. The director of CDOT is responsible for the daily operations of six divisions including all aspects of road planning and operations, including policy development, capital project prioritization, neighborhood traffic calming, street lights, sidewalks, street maintenance, development review, pedestrian and bicycle planning, and traffic signal operations. Currently, the department manages more than 2,100 miles of streets and over 630 signalized intersections. 

Additionally, the Department works closely with North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) due to its significant role in maintaining most thoroughfares within Charlotte. 

In recent months, CDOT has provided support to the local Committee of 21 to address road solutions for the future as well as monitor the state's 21^st Century Transportation Committee and the Metropolitan Coalition.

"Danny has proven to be an effective leader during his tenure as Interim Director, helping to position Charlotte as a national model for land-use and transportation choices," says City Manager Curt Walton. "His strategic planning and urban design expertise will help guide the City as we prepare for the future in terms of managing growth, sustaining a high quality of life and accommodating more residents."

"I look forward to advancing Charlotte's reputation as the premier transportation system in the country where we create more connectivity, walkable communities and bicycle friendly transit-oriented places along with promoting the Urban Street Design Guidelines as the tool for preparing our City for the 21^st Century," says Danny Pleasant.  

Pleasant adds that he will focus on several immediate opportunities that include:

• enhancing professional services to developers
• streamlining development review processes
• improving the timeframe for project delivery
• taking a more proactive approach in working with NCDOT on numerous roadway design issues and addressing funding challenges
• providing greater clarity to requirements
• demonstrating more flexibility
• greater balance between transportation and economic development objectives.

CDOT also provides multimodal planning for the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization and recently developed a Transportation Action Plan (TAP) that establishes a policy framework to address expected growth over the next 25 years.  City Council adopted the TAP in 2007.

Another significant effort led and managed by CDOT is the Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG) which helps to implement the TAP by providing direction on design and construction of streets needed to advance Charlotte into a more urban development pattern. Outcomes of USDG will be evidenced by street construction that yields more connected patterns of streets similar to Charlotte's earlier more gridded pattern.

Prior to coming to Charlotte in 2002, Danny served for fourteen years as Transportation Planning Bureau Chief for the City of Orlando, Florida. He also worked as transportation planner in Atlanta, Chapel Hill, NC and Fayetteville, NC. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from NC State University and a Master of Urban Planning degree from Texas A&M University. While at Texas A&M, he worked as a Research Associate with the Texas Transportation Institute.

Danny is affiliated with Walkable Communities, Inc where he has served on several charrette teams. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a Fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a member of the Urban Land Institute, and a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

He was recently appointed by North Carolina Speaker of the House Joe Hackney to the Legislative Study Commission on Urban Growth and Infrastructure Issues.