BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) Secretary Johnny B. Bradberry recently named Michael Stack as district administrator for District 2, which covers a wide portion of Southeast Louisiana.
Stack has been employed at DOTD his entire career and has extensive experience in road design, flood control, hurricane protection, drainage, surveying and maintenance projects.
He joined the department in 1978, when he was hired as part of a survey crew. Since then, he has held the positions of district road design engineer, assistant district design and water resources engineer, and district design and water resources engineer. His most recent position was a district engineer for District 2.
“Mike was the right person for the job,” Bradberry said. “He exemplified the leadership qualities needed for the job, and he understands the area. I wish him the best, and we will give him all the support he needs to be successful in the position as we lead the state to recovery in this critical area.”
One of Stack’s goals for his new position is to set an example for others to follow.
“My biggest challenge is to lead my district in recovering from the largest natural disaster in American history, while still providing excellent customer
service,” he said. “My focus will be on completing maintenance, traffic, design, construction and hurricane protection projects that contribute to the recovery and economic development of the district.”
During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Stack was instrumental in developing an engineering solution to stop a breach in the 17th Street Canal – even as he watched the water from Lake Pontchartrain rush through the breach onto the streets and lawns of his own neighborhood.
Stack developed a plan to build a working road to the breach in order to repair it. The idea was to use broken concrete from along the Lake Pontchartrain shoreline as a base and top it off with recycled asphaltic concrete that was stockpiled nearby.
This method proved so successful it was adopted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the way to close the breaches at the London Avenue and Industrial Canals.
Stack holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and is licensed as a professional engineer and land surveyor. He replaced Thomas Payment, who retired from DOTD in April 2006.
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