Henrico names VDOT’s Terrell Hughes to lead Public Works division

Henrico County has appointed Terrell Hughes director of the Department of Public Works (DPW), effective Monday, August 31st.

Hughes currently works as assistant planning director and assistant division administrator for the Transportation and Mobility Planning Division of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), where he has provided oversight for the department’s STARS and multimodal programs and has supported the administration of Virginia’s SMART SCALE funding prioritization program.

Prior to his service with VDOT, Hughes worked as an engineer and project manager for Kimley-Horn & Associates, a project engineer with Davenport Transportation Consulting and a transportation engineer with the Timmons Group.

As director of Henrico’s DPW, Hughes will head an agency with 269 employees and a budget of more than $52 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year. DPW oversees the design, construction, and maintenance of secondary roads in the county. With more than 3,500 lane miles and 159 traffic signals, Henrico operates the third-largest road network in Virginia.

DPW also is responsible for stormwater drainage, administration of public transit services, and enforcement of erosion and sedimentation laws and ordinances. The department comprises the divisions of design, maintenance, construction, transportation development, traffic engineering, and environmental control, as well as the standing water initiative.

The recipient of a 2019 VDOT Commissioner’s Award, Hughes is president of the Old Dominion section of the American Society of Highway Engineers. He earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Virginia Tech and is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Hughes and his wife Brittany have four children.