2014 Dynamic Dozen Employee of the Year: Eric Claussen

Eric Claussen does some of his most important work in the car.

As a traffic engineer for the city of Springfield, Claussen varies the routes he drives so he can see firsthand how cars flow thoughout the city – or don’t.

“That’s part of what drives me. I don’t want to inconvenience anybody,” Claussen says.

He’s the guy people call when they want a stop sign, think a left-hand turn signal is too short or a sensor isn’t working. Claussen estimates about 30 percent of his job is interacting with the public. Some callers even develop into regulars, which Claussen appreciates.

“They can be my eyes on the street,” he says.

Everyone won’t be happy all the time, but he aims to reshape the public’s opinion of government.

“Exceeding expectations is a personal goal I strive for every day. Government work has a stigma of being unresponsive and noninnovative,” Claussen says.

He juggles multiple roles. Within the Transportation Management Division, he works with transportation-related technologies and is responsible for the traffic signal system and traffic data collection. In Traffic Engineering, Claussen is a project manager for roadway and streetscape design, as well as construction projects.

He also serves as a liaison between the city and the Missouri Department of Transportation, a relationship enhanced by previous work for MoDOT. That helps when Claussen needs to coordinate with the state agency, which maintains traffic signals on state routes within the city, and it came in handy when Claussen worked with MoDOT to retime each traffic signal at all times of the day.

“I organized efforts for both agencies to begin collecting data and developing new traffic-signal timing plans,” he says. “The idea was to improve traffic progression across jurisdictional boundaries. … With the constant changing of traffic patterns and the same timing plans being in place for over 10 years, the project was in dire need.”

Claussen’s work extends outside Springfield, too. He organized and chaired a committee with the Federal Highway Administration to develop a manual to assist small communities across the state with traffic-related issues, such as proper signage, to improve safety.

Claussen’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.

In 2013, he received the Young Transportation Professional of the Year Award by the Missouri Valley Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a six-state organization, and the Transportation Professional of the Year Award by the Ozarks Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

“As I have taken on additional responsibilities, I go home every night waging a war in my mind of how I could have done things better, and it forces me to focus on organizing my home and work life and separating the two,” he says.

And, yet, try as he may, Claussen takes his work home with him. As a traffic engineer, a drive is more than getting to a destination.

“It drives me crazy to see something that needs an adjustment, and I can’t fix it until morning,” he says.[[In-content Ad]]