BATON ROUGE, La. – Blaise Carriere, special projects assistant and former deputy secretary at the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), died today. He was 67.

Details on services are incomplete.

Carriere started and ended his career working at what is now DOTD – with a wealth of private industry experience sandwiched in between. He apparently had a stroke last Wednesday.

DOTD Secretary Johnny B. Bradberry said, “Blaise will be remembered for his status as a change agent and a challenger of the status quo. He also was known as a gentleman. I was fortunate to have to him immediately embrace and promote the improvement principles that I brought to this department.

“He loved his work and brought a level of energy and commitment that was second to none. The organization will sorely miss his talents and contributions. And I personally will miss him as a top-notch engineering professional as well as a good and honorable friend,” Bradberry said.

A native of New Orleans, Carriere earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1960, a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1963 and a certificate in engineering management in 1971, all from LSU. He was a registered professional engineer (P.E.) in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Carriere’s initial job after graduation was as a civil engineer with the state transportation department, then known as the Louisiana Highway Department. He returned to DOTD in 2000 as deputy secretary. He was named assistant to the secretary for policy in fall 2004 and became special projects assistant to Chief Engineer Bill Temple in fall 2005.

In between his stints with the state, Carriere spent 18 years with HNTB Corp., including serving as vice president of HNTB’s Baton Rouge Office. Prior to his association with HNTB, he served 12 years as director of the Department of Streets for the city of New Orleans and was principal engineer for seven years with Waldemar S. Nelson and Co. of New Orleans.

He also was active in the community as a member of St. Aloysius Catholic Church, the Rotary Club, City Club of Baton Rouge and the Sherwood Forest Country Club.

Carriere is survived by his wife of more than four decades, Marilyn deMahy Carriere; three children, Daren B. Carriere, Angele Carriere Romig and Christopher Carriere; and nine grandchildren.

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