Norman E. Feder A.I.C.P
Administrator
Norman Feder (pronounced “Feeder”) became Collier County’s Transportation Administrator on August 25, 2000. The Transportation Division was established that year as part of the reorganization of the former Public Works Division.
The Transportation Division includes the following departments: Transportation Planning, Transportation Engineering and Construction Management, Traffic Operations, Stormwater Management and Alternative Transportation Modes. Contained within those departments are ROW Permitting, ROW Acquisition, Landscaping and Development Review. Housed within the Transportation Division is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) a regional planning agency, mandated by the Federal Government who is responsible for the Long Range Transportation Plan and planning, and to ensure that there is close coordination between local, county state and regional planning agencies. There is also a Road and Bridge Section which maintains more than 1290 centerline miles of roadways, swales and drainage ditches throughout the county including primary state roads under a contract with the Florida Department of Transportation. The Aquatic Plant Control Section manages and maintains 400 miles of canals and secondary drainage ditches. The Collier Area Transit (CAT) service was started in 2001 and already serves over one million passengers per year.
Prior to this position Mr. Feder was the Director of the Southwest Area Office for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) since 1986. He also served as District One’s Director of Planning and Programs from 1987 to 1997. Before accepting the assignment to establish the Southwest Area Office in Fort Myers, Mr. Feder served as Manager of the FDOT’s Policy and Florida Transportation Plan Section in Tallahassee. While in that capacity, he participated in the rewrite of the State’s Transportation Code and developed the first Florida Transportation Plan (FTP) to document the department’s policies.
Mr. Feder has held other positions within FDOT. He served as a government analyst in the Governor’s Office, was a senior planner in the Division of State Planning, and performed transportation planning for the City of Tallahassee. Mr. Feder holds a Master’s Degree in Transportation Planning from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Studies from Northeastern University in Boston. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
During the past six years, Mr. Feder has overseen an aggressive roadway program with 104 lane miles of new capacity in 11 projects opened to traffic, with another approximately 200 lane miles in 17 projects already under construction, or in active design for capacity expansion including the much needed Golden Gate Overpass. This aggressive construction schedule to "catch up" on the inaction of the past is being done on already over crowded roadways that continue to be burdened with an explosion of new residents and seasonal visitors. Also during this time a successful transit system was initiated, pathways have been built, roadways landscaped, checkbook concurrency implemented, impact fees updated, a Five Year Work Program and Business plan instituted, a Stormwater Master Plan created, and a computerized traffic signal system upgraded for greater efficiency.