Grace Crunican

Grace Crunican (born 1955) is a mass transportation specialist who most recently served as general manager of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District. She had previously worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Federal Transit Administration (under the Clinton administration), and the Seattle Department of Transportation, and also at the mass transit lobbying organization called the Surface Transportation Policy Project. Among other things, she managed TriMet's request for a vintage trolley and downtown street additions in the Portland metropolitan area, Oregon.

Crunican then went on to become Deputy Director and Capitol Project Manager at the Portland Bureau of Transportation,

Federal Transit Administration Crunican served as Deputy Administrator at the Federal Transit Administration (united the United States Department of Transportation) from 1993 to 1996, under the presidency of Bill Clinton. She also testified twice to the Railroad Safety Committee while in the role.

Oregon Department of Transportation

Crunican began serving as director of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) in May 1996

In 1999, as ODOT Director, Crunican ordered the formation of "Project Time Team" to cut turnaround time for highway construction projects to 18 months between acceptance of project by city/county and release of advertising for contractor bids. Crunican's work was praised by Republican state representative Bruce Starr, of Aloha, who expressed surprise at her resignation, as well as by Gary George, the Senate Transportation Committee chairman who had previously been critical of ODOT.

Seattle Department of Transportation Crunican began serving as the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation in 2002, becoming the second person to serve in that role. The Seattle Department of Transportation had been created in 1997 with the name Seattle Transportation Department, and Crunican replaced outgoing director Daryl Grigsby. While there, Crunican implemented Bridging the Gap (a transportation maintenance levy) Among other things, her decision to use sand instead of salt to clear out the accumulated snow (to limit environmental damage to the Bay) was implicated as a reason for the snow not being cleared out quickly enough.

Despite considerable dissatisfaction at Crunican, Mayor Greg Nickels refused to fire her, citing her overall positive track record including her work on Bridging the Gap,

At the time of Crunican's resignation from SDOT, it was reported that Crunican was a finalist for a county administrator job in Clackamas County, Oregon. However, she did not get the job.

In early August, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that BART had almost finalized on Grace Crunican as the general manager.

Crunican's first major challenge was labor union strikes as well as deaths that occurred on the tracks due to a train run by a substitute worker during the strikes. Crunican pushed back against union demands noting that the money comes from fares and taxpayers, whose interests also need to be protected, but she received criticism for excessive executive compensation.

Crunican oversaw replacement of the BART train seats to vinyl ones that were more hygienic and easy to clean, During her tenure, BART opened the Oakland International Airport station and Warm Springs/South Fremont station.

One of the factors in deciding to hire Crunican was her skill at securing external grants and other funding, later validated by her subsequent success at getting Metropolitan Transportation Commission funding for the BART train car upgrade,

On April 11, 2019, Crunican announced her retirement from BART effective July 6, 2019.

Personal life Crunican is single and has had two adopted children, from Russia respectively. She lives in Alameda, California.