Duda appointed new PennDOT District 12 executive
Fayette County woman elevated to top transportation role
The state Department of Transportation announced last week that Rachel Duda has been appointed to serve as the new executive of PennDOT District 12 that includes Greene, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
Duda officially took over the position Saturday and replaced Bill Kovach, who retired at the end of October.
“We welcome Rachel’s expertise as she continues to provide leadership to the Department of Transportation,” Deputy Secretary for Highway Administration Michael Rebert said.
In addition to having more than 25 years of extensive experience in all facets of PennDOT, Duda was a part-time professor at the Penn State University, The Eberly Campus for four years, teaching engineering graphics and design. She has been a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania since April 2003.
Duda will now be responsible for administering an annual operating budget of $300 million and a team of nearly 800 employees. District 12 encompasses 10 cities and 193 municipalities in the four-county region, and it owns and maintains approximately 2,349 bridges, 3,600 miles of roadway, 164 miles of bicycle routes and thousands of additional assets.
Duda graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with bachelor of science and master of civil engineering degrees. She served as transportation engineer with HDR, Inc. for six months before becoming a civil engineer trainee with PennDOT in July 1998.
Duda advanced through various positions in District 12, serving as pavement engineer, planning and programming engineer, traffic engineer and acting plans engineer. She was appointed assistant district executive for design in July 2010 and acted as the assistant district executive for construction for five months in 2020.
She lives on a farm in Luzerne Township with her husband, Mark, and two teenage children.