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Kuisti’s first year as Lewiston district engineer features
challenges and achievements

The first year of anything is a time of significant, often unavoidable change, as the individual learns to (or is forced to, in some cases) grow and adapt to a new reality. For Dave Kuisti, the new district engineer in Lewiston, the last 12 months have been filled with challenges, obstacles, and ultimately, accomplishments.

And the traffic light that gave him an unmistakable Panhandle message.

He is new to the district engineer position. To call him new to ITD or new to Lewiston would not be accurate, however. Kuisti moved from District 1 to District 2 as an Engineer-In-Training (EIT) in 1993, and was in the district for approximately two years as an EIT. After that, he moved to Boise for about a year as an EIT. He returned to D2 in the summer of 1995 and worked there as a staff engineer, resident engineer, and then project development engineer until the spring of 2006 when he moved to D3, where he stayed until his recent promotion.

Kuisti was elevated to the district engineer position in Lewiston after more than 22 years with ITD (starting in May 1991) and several years as the second-in-command in District 3 (Boise).

His selection was made in mid-October 2013, and he became D2’s new district engineer Nov. 4, 2013, succeeding Jim Carpenter, who had already moved to Boise Headquarters as ITD’s new chief operations officer. Carpenter was on the interviewing team that selected Kuisti.

“Dave came to the interview prepared about what was going on in District 2 and had well thought-out ideas on how to improve the processes and compliment the efforts that the D2 team was already working on,” said Carpenter. “This, combined with his well-rounded experience in Design, Construction and Maintenance, made him a good choice to lead the District 2 team.”

As district engineer, Kuisti presides over a five-county area that features 1,500 lane miles, 175 bridges and more than 13,400 square miles.

Looking back on it now, there were some things that Kuisti says he didn’t anticipate. “I pretty much knew what I was getting into when I started, but would concede that the learning curve was a bit steeper than I thought it would be,” said Kuisti.

He added that “becoming reacquainted with the issues in D2, and stepping into the leadership role during a time when ITD is going through a significant change in the way we do business” have been the biggest challenges in his first 12 months on the job.

The move from Boise to Lewiston was a five-month odyssey that culminated in Kuisti buying a home in Lewiston in March 2014 and moving his wife (Lisa) and kids (Kailee 20, Joshua 16, and Kara 10; Jacob, 23, is out of the house on his own) up to the new locale. They did not finally sell their house in the Treasure Valley until just a few months ago, in August.

As anyone who has moved households from one location to another can attest, it is no small task. In fact, when asked about the biggest accomplishments of his first year, he lists “getting my wife and children relocated and settled into a different home and new routine” at the top of that list.

Kuisti said building working relationships with the Nez Perce Indian Tribe, counties, cities, towns and local agencies also were at the top of his to-do list as soon as he arrived in Lewiston. He also said he filled key positions within the district and is “continuing to meet the goals in our business plan.”

He said the one thing he is most proud of from Year One is “the way the district staff has pulled together to support me and each other as we transitioned through these personnel changes.”

On the other side of the ledger, Kuisti is dealing with many of the same challenges the department as a whole is facing – the loss (or impending loss) of experienced staff, and a growing list of highway needs to try to address with current resources.

His time at District 3 was valuable experience for Kuisti – being immersed in the Treasure Valley fishbowl, and the political scrutiny and daily commuter crunch of the region.

“D3 is different from other places, but the difference and difficulty lies not in complexity but rather in volume,” said Dave Jones, who was the district engineer in D3 and Kuisti’s direct supervisor and is now ITD’s Division of Engineering Products and Plans administrator. “There are more of everything; citizens, local units of government, projects, legislators, miles of road, etc. The only significant difference between D3 and the other districts is proximity to Headquarters and the scrutiny that comes with that location.”

“Dave was a trusted partner in helping me keep D3 from being overwhelmed with the ‘added workload’ brought about by over $500 million in GARVEE projects plus the sundry stimulus projects that superimposed themselves on an already significantly larger project load,” he added.

“I consider it an honor to have my assistant district engineer/engineering manager selected as a district engineer,” Jones said.

“I've tried to bring the best practices that are applicable to District 2. Being able to work closely with D3 Engineer Dave Jones for the last several years in arguably one of the most difficult district engineer environments provided a lot of experience in all areas of district management. I’m thankful for that experience.”

Kuisti chuckles when he recalls the moment he realized he had acclimated to the Idaho Panhandle and had distanced himself from the ever-present congestion of the Boise area.

“A while back, I sat through two cycles at a traffic signal on Thain Road here in Lewiston before proceeding through the intersection and I found the one-minute delay frustrating…at that moment I realized I had fully re-acclimated to District 2.”