Jose Sepulveda

José Sepúlveda began his career with Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 1980. His first permanent position was with Eastern Federal Lands where he served as a design leader and gained an understanding of highway design principles.

Mr. Sepúlveda has held multiple positions in FHWA including: Safety Engineer in the Headquarters Office of Safety and Traffic Operations, Special Assistant to the Region 5 Regional Administrator, Region 5 Emergency Transportation Representative, Technology Advancement Team Leader in the Wisconsin Division, Assistant Division Administrator in Puerto Rico, and Territorial Representative to the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1997, Mr. Sepúlveda was appointed Division Administrator of the Puerto Rico Division. In March 2000, he became the Kentucky Division Administrator where he served until his retirement in December 2014.

While in Kentucky, Mr. Sepúlveda fostered and maintained important relationships with the State Historic Preservation Office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by taking time to more fully understand the jurisdictional agencies’ requirements and missions, and then seeking innovative ways to avoid or mitigate project impacts.

Mr. Sepúlveda assisted the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in implementing successful environmental streamlining procedures in the highway project development process. He helped move the design culture from a “Decide, Announce, and Defend” culture to a “Publicly Owned Projects” design philosophy, through which the public and agency stakeholders are encouraged to provide comments throughout the project development process.

Mr. Sepúlveda has provided extensive leadership in several projects including Ohio River Bridges, the Milton Madison Bridge, Newtown Pike, the Land Between the Lakes Highway and Bridges, and numerous I-66 and I-69 projects.

Mr. Sepúlveda is a 1980 graduate of the University of Puerto Rico where he received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree. He has had a wonderful career and has received numerous performance awards including the FHWA Administrator’s Superior Achievement Award on three occasions.