J. Richard Capka

Joseph Richard "Rick" Capka (born March 16, 1949)

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Administrator, Capka served as chief executive officer/Executive Director of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) where he directed the oversight of the $14.6 billion Central Artery/Tunnel project ("Big Dig") in Boston, the largest and most complex infrastructure project of its time in the United States. In that capacity, Capka worked closely with the USDOT Inspector General, the FHWA, and other state agencies to develop and gain approval for the project's complex finance plan. The budget that Capka established in May 2001 remained on target and provided a sound foundation for the project's subsequent financial management.

Prior to his position with the MTA, Capka retired as a brigadier general in early 2001 following a 29-year military career in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he served in the U.S., Europe, the Pacific and the Far East. His most recent assignments before retirement included division engineer and commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division, where he was responsible for managing the corps' activities in the southeastern U.S. and in Central and South America. He also was commander of the South Pacific Division, where he was responsible for the corps' activities in the far western and southwestern U.S. during which time he led the inter-agency efforts to restore California's vast federal flood control system that had been severely damaged following the state's unprecedented floods in 1987. That effort earned specific praise from both the President and Governor of California.

In 2008, he joined Dawson & Associates in Washington, D.C., as chief operating officer. He is a registered professional engineer in Virginia.