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Gurnsey to fill D-3 assistant engineer position
with responsibilities for design

What Scott Gurnsey will bring with him to his new job as Assistant District 3 Engineer for Engineering may be well known to his coworkers at the ITD facility in Boise, but the familiarity of Gurnsey’s strong points make them no less valuable.

Gurnsey has worked for District 3 for more than two decades, most recently as Region 4 Engineer.

“I already rely on him for his good advice as much as anyone in the district,” said District 3 Engineer Eric Shannon. “He has such a good institutional knowledge of the district.”

After graduating from the University of Idaho with a degree in geological engineering, Gurnsey entered ITD’s EIT program in District 6 in May 1982. Three years later he moved to the Roadway Design office at District 3.

He has been with the district ever since.

“I enjoy the staff at District 3, and I appreciate their talent and dedication,” Gurnsey said. “I look forward to this new challenge. This is a great opportunity for me.”

Gurnsey spent almost five years in the District 3 Traffic Section. He became Maintenance Engineer in 1992, basically keeping the same duties but assuming a new title when the district reorganized in 1999. He became the Region 4 Engineer.

Now his emphasis will shift from construction to project development.

“Even though it has been several years since he was Traffic Engineer, recently he was instrumental in our Access Control project. That is important,” Shannon said. “With Scott, we’re getting a bit of continuity. We can tap that knowledge.”

District 3 had to make a potentially difficult transition of replacing both of its ADEs at the same time. Gurnsey replaces Damon Allen, who moved to Headquarters to be the Roadway Design Engineer. Dave Kuisti will move from District 2 to succeed Elaine Davis in Operations. She recently left to take a position in the private sector.

Both Gurnsey and Kuisti will shift responsibilities from one side of the house to the other, reversing direction between design and construction. The moves should make ITD’s engineering staff stronger in the long run and keep District 3 running smoothly.

“It’s good to have someone with knowledge in a broad range of areas,” Shannon said. “We’ll be developing a deep bench for ITD.

“Both off these guys can field calls and act on my behalf or cover for each other. Both can help the other.”