A record 211 people from 37 states registered to attend the 2025 AASHTO Committee on Transportation Communications Annual Meeting in Chicago September 21-24.
[Above image by AASHTO]
That American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials committee – known as TransComm – promotes excellence in communications through the exchange of ideas and educational programming, presents an annual skills awards competition, and advises other AASHTO committees on communication issues. It’s comprised of public affairs professionals from all 50 state departments of transportation, plus those of Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
The annual TransComm Skills Awards were presented at the meeting; a competition that recognizes the best communications and marketing work from state DOTs over the last year. Key award winners are:
- Rusty Marks, a longtime local news writer turned press writer and photographer for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, received TransComm’s “Public Relations Professional of the Year” award, given for exemplary service that benefits transportation industry regionally or nationally.
- Chris Moynahan, a WVDOT graphic designer, received the “Spirit of TransComm” award, which honors the efforts of state DOT staff members who are not in leadership or supervisory positions but are doing so much of the vital work on communications teams.
- Chris Crabb, public information officer for the Oregon Department of Transportation, won TransComm’s “Vanguard” award, which recognizes communications professionals who are new to state DOT communications, even if they otherwise have decades of public relations, communications, or marketing experience.
- Liza Stacy with the Indiana Department of Transportation took home the “Rising Star” award, which highlights the contributions of communication staffers early in their careers working for state DOTs.
The WVDOT Public Relations team also took home a TransComm Skills Award for Episode 239 of its “WV on the DOT” podcast that featured Jonathan Schaffer, WVDOT’s executive administrator of government relations.
Among the other skills awards winners, the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) won four awards at TransComm’s 2025 annual meeting; those for internal publications, video production, logo design, and website design.
And the Arizona Department of Transportation won two separate awards for communications outreach entailed for its I-17 Improvement Project and I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project.
See a full list of winners and their projects by clicking here.
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