AASHTO Journal - New Hampshire DOT’s Lambert Wins Safety Award

William “Bill” Lambert (above) – state highway safety administrator for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation – recently received the 2024 National Safety Award for his “significant contributions to roadway safety” from the American Traffic Safety Services Association or ATSSA.

[Above photo via New Hampshire DOT]

Lambert served for more than 23 years as state traffic engineer with the New Hampshire DOT and worked with a number of industry organizations during that time in a variety of capacities.

He served on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials traffic engineering and safety committees. He also has been actively involved in the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, serving as chair of the Warning and Regulatory Sign Technical Committee and vice chair for programs, which also includes overseeing the Edit Committee.

At ATSSA, he has participated at the national level and within the New England Chapter, and is involved at the national, regional and state levels of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Lambert also has worked for more than two decades collaborating within his region on traffic and safety issues by holding twice yearly Northeast Traffic Engineer meetings that include representatives from the six New England states and sometimes New York and Quebec.

“Through all of these engagements, Bill’s primary focus is to listen and learn what other states and local DOTs are doing to see if there is a best practice to adopt, a new device or material to use, or to just keep DOT workforces safe out on the roadways,” Neil Boudreau, the 2023 National Safety Award winner and assistant administrator for traffic & safety at Massachusetts Department of Transportation, in his nomination of Lambert for the ATSSA award.

“He is also very willing to share what they do in New Hampshire and provide others with lessons learned and good advice on how to navigate situations,” Boudreau added.

Boudreau said Lambert and his New Hampshire DOT team have been leaders in safety efforts such as providing effective signage for horizontal curves, using centerline rumble strips on high-speed state highways to help prevent crashes, using technology and other tools to set speed limits appropriate to roadway characteristics, and using data logging to demonstrate the cost-benefit of durable roadway markings.

Rather than retire or move into a consultant role, Lambert recently took on a new position within New Hampshire DOT.

“Bill decided to take on a new challenge and left his position as the state traffic engineer to move over and take on the state highway safety administrator’s role; not for more pay – it is the same level – but because safety is at the core of his mission,” MassDOT’s Boudreau noted.

“Bill wants to bring things like safe systems and speed management to New Hampshire and work on addressing safety for vulnerable road users from a different approach than just the pure traffic engineering one,” he said, “Bill is going to continue to give back and serve the residents of New Hampshire to make the roads safer for all road users.”

Lambert was one of three people recognized with a national award during ATSSA’s 54th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in San Diego.

David Krahulec of Horizon Signal Technologies received the Industry Achievement Award in recognition of his major contributions to the roadway safety infrastructure industry, including his dedication to promoting work zone safety.

Concurrently, Elizabeth “Beth” Ruyak of Ruyak Media in California received ATSSA’s the National Media Award for her decade-plus service as mistress of ceremonies for the annual California Department of Transportation Fallen Workers Memorial ceremony.