Randell H. Iwasaki

Chief Deputy Director

Randell "Randy" Iwasaki is the Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

Iwasaki manages the day-to-day operations of the Department, including an operating budget of nearly $10 billion and more than 21,000 employees. From December 2004 until December 2005, he also managed the $8.6 billion Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program.
A licensed civil engineer, Iwasaki has been with Caltrans for more than 20 years, serving in a number of high profile engineering and management positions.

From July 2004 to November 2004 Iwasaki served as the Department’s Interim Director where he was responsible for California's state transportation system, including more than 50,000 lane miles of state highways stretching from Mexico to Oregon and from the Pacific Ocean to Nevada and Arizona.

From August 1999 to July 2004, Iwasaki served as the Deputy Director for Maintenance and Operations, where he supervised nearly 6,000 maintenance employees and 1,600 traffic operations specialists. He was also responsible for a 14,000-piece equipment fleet and Caltrans' Research and Innovation Division.

In between these years, from September 2001 through November 2002, Iwasaki served as Caltrans District 4 Director for nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. During that time, he was instrumental in initiating the ground breaking for the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

During his career at Caltrans, Iwasaki has spearheaded a number of environmental engineering innovations in California. He was instrumental in the use of old tires in rubberized asphalt, the installation of LED red lights saving the state taxpayers more than $2 million a year in power costs, and conversion of the Caltrans equipment fleet to clean burning fuels.

Iwasaki serves on a number of national initiatives. He has been appointed as chair of the Technical Coordinating Committee for implementation of the renewal portion of the Strategic Highway Research Program, and is a member of a public advisory committee for the ITS Caucus for the U. S. Congress. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel that is looking at impacts to transportation from Global Climate Changes. He co-chaired an effort to encourage the development and application of quiet pavement technologies to reduce highway noise in the United States.

Iwasaki also served as the Director of the Department's District 9 from April 1996 through August 1997. This District straddles the eastern portion of the Golden State, covering Inyo, Mono, and a portion of Kern counties.
As District 9 Director, Iwasaki supervised the reconstruction of a ten-mile segment of Highway 395 in Mono County that was washed away by the rampaging floodwaters of the Walker River in 1997.

Iwasaki earned his bachelor's degree in Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a Master's in Engineering from California State University, Fresno.