Laurie Berman

District 11 Director

Laurie Berman was appointed in November 2009 as the District Director for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 11, encompassing San Diego and Imperial counties.  She is the eighth district director for the region dating back to 1933.

Laurie is responsible for the daily operation of 1,300 employees and more than 1,000 highway lane miles.  She oversees $1.3 billion worth of highway construction projects and programs throughout the two-county area.

Her vision for the future of state transportation in the region is to find opportunity in the many challenges facing the department and its stakeholders, and to infuse innovation into the daily decision-making processes to keep pace with the growing demand to efficiently move people and goods across California.

With more than two dozen years of experience with Caltrans, Laurie began her career with Caltrans as a Junior Civil Engineer in bridge construction in Santa Barbara after earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering at Michigan State University in 1983.

She has a varied career, starting in the Caltrans Bridge Department, and then spending a couple of years at its Headquarters in Sacramento.  When the Seismic Safety Retrofit Program was established in District 11, the innovation of the program gained her attention, as did an opportunity to live near the beach in San Diego.  Laurie transferred to District 11 in 1994 to manage the seismic retrofit of the district’s bridges.

Laurie was the district’s Design Manager when she became involved in the State Route 125 South Toll Road Project, providing a critical north/south inland link between SR-905 near the U.S./Mexico Border and SR-54.  She later became Project Manager and then Corridor Project Manager spending 12 years on the project.  The project opened in 2007 and drew local, state and national attention as the region’s first toll road.  It was also one of the nation’s first Public Private Partnerships and earned numerous accolades for transportation innovation. 

Laurie served as the district’s Chief Deputy Director of Project Delivery before her appointment to District Director.  She was promoted to that post in December 2007, providing her with further opportunity to pursue her interests in innovative project delivery methods and finance. 

In addition to serving as an Ex-Officio member at the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, Laurie is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Project Delivery Methods Committee and serves on the San Diego Association of Governments.  She represents the department as a key spokesperson on media issues and serves as a speaker at several national conferences on a variety of transportation topics.