Morteza Salehi – Culpeper District Administrator

            As Culpeper’s district administrator, Morteza Salehi will oversee VDOT’s transportation program for a nine-county region that extends from Fauquier County to Albemarle County.  The district covers nearly 4,560 miles of roadway and about 700 employees.

            Before coming to Culpeper in March of this year, Salehi was VDOT’s Northern Virginia assistant district administrator for maintenance and operations since 1998.  In the preceding four years, he was assistant administrator for maintenance.  He joined VDOT, and the Northern Virginia District, as a senior transportation engineer in 1989.  From 1985 until 1989, Salehi worked in the private sector.  From 1981 until 1985, he was a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

            Before immigrating to the United States, Salehi worked for the government of Iran.  He took a leading role in the coordination and development of Iran’s transportation programs.  Earlier he was an associate professor of civil engineering at Tehran University.  Salehi holds a doctorate in transportation and a master’s degree in highway and traffic engineering from the University of Birmingham, England, and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Tehran Polytechnic Institute.