Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
ITE Western District (Western United States)
San Francisco Bay Area Section

2006 Transportation Professional of the Year

Awarded to: Zahir Gulzadah

Role Played by the nominee in the project:
· Been an excellent mentor within the past year
· Contributed as Technical Lead within the past year
· Contributed as Managerial Lead within the past year

Zahir Gulzadah (City of San Jose, Dept. of Transportation) has been an Acting Senior Engineer for the last 2.5 years. In this time he has distinguished himself in a number of ways. Many of the programs that others do not want or have the capacity to carry out, are either given to Zahir, or he willingly takes them on. In addition to his duties of managing sections of our Traffic Operations Team, he has performed other adjunct duties: DOT lead for the San Jose Grand Prix, Zahir manages all aspects of preparing the streets for the race, including, but not limited to: markings, road closures, barrier installation and removal, bleachers installation and removal, course layout, traffic management during the event, parking access during the event, paving rehabilitation for the event, and various other duties. Lead for DOT's student intern program; Zahir manages the interns, and provides mentoring and support to the program.

His friendly and supportive manner serve to provide a very positive learning environment for the interns. Downtown Construction Coordinator, Zahir supervises this program as well. His duties include managing an assistant, coordination with contractors that impact downtown traffic, enforcing City Codes, policies, etc. with the contractors, permit issuance for the contractors, and other duties. Managing of the City's Residential Permit Parking program. Several areas in San Jose, are impacted by parking intrusion into neighborhoods, due to high volume businesses or other facilities, such as San Jose State University. Zahir has been instrumental in improving the program, one such example was to switch from a solid color permit, to a holographic permit, that is not easily counterfitted. As Acting Sr. Engineer, he has managed a staff of approx. 15, and has the largest staff reporting to him of any section led by a Sr. Engineer, in the department. He manages several diverse programs, as noted above, and does all of them exceedingly well.

Congratulations to Zahir Gulzadah of the City of San Jose, Dept. of Transportation!

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