After about three decades moving through the ranks of the Florida Department of Transportation, Gus Pego was appointed secretary of the local district about a year and a half ago – just in time to help close a long-planned and volatile deal for billion-dollar tunnels to the Port of Miami. With that underway, Mr. Pego is also overseeing another of the state’s biggest transportation projects, a $560 million State Roads 826-836 interchange.

Federal stimulus dollars are helping make that project possible, along with dozens of others in municipalities across the county.

And Mr. Pego predicts another round of stimulus funding coming down the pike, “so we will need our transportation partners ready to deliver some more projects,” he says.

A top priority: the second phase of a viaduct above Northwest 25th Street.

Over time, Mr. Pego also hopes to see transit expansion and other improvements to better facilitate movement through the community.

He shared his vision in an interview with Miami Today reporter Risa Polansky in FDOT’s District 6 headquarters.