The Utah Department of Transportation has appointed Teri Newell as an additional deputy director for the department. In her new role, Newell is charged with helping guide UDOT as it works on issues relating to the state’s growing population, advances in technology, and the evolution of the transportation industry.

The newly created position resulted from passage of a bill that addresses the governance of transportation in Utah.

Newell joins UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras and Deputy Director Shane Marshall in leading the department’s more than 1,600 employees. The executive team oversees the design, construction, and maintenance of Utah’s 6,000 miles of state roads and highways.

“Teri has proven herself as an innovative leader,” Braceras said. “Her work as Region Three Director and as the project manager for the Mountain View Corridor has helped to prepare her to take an active role shaping this new position and in helping to lead UDOT into its exciting transportation future.”

Newell begins her new role immediately. For the past five years, she has served as UDOT’s Region Three director, where she was responsible for the construction and maintenance of state roads in Utah, Juab, Wasatch, Duchesne, Uintah and Daggett Counties.

Prior to her role as UDOT’s first female region director, Newell spent 10 years taking the Mountain View Corridor from a concept, through the environmental process, to completion of the initial phases. Before joining UDOT, Newell was the operations director for Salt Lake County, and she held other positions in the private sector.

Newell is a native of Iowa, and holds a civil engineering degree from Iowa State University.