Bair is recipient of first ITS Michigan Lifetime Achievement Award

ITS Michigan 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award

Recipient: Brent O. Bair

                The ITS Michigan Board of Directors selected Brent O. Bair as the recipient of the organization’s first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025. Bair was a founding member of ITS America in 1995 and had a long and distinguished career in the transportation field in Southeast Michigan.

                Bair served as Managing Director of the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) from 1993 until his retirement in 2012, overseeing the largest county road system in the state and one of the largest local-road ITS deployments in the nation. He was an outspoken proponent of ITS and the ITS industry, and was nationally known for his involvement in the field.

Bair was an ITS Michigan Board member from 1995 until his retirement in 2012, and served as ITS Michigan president in 1997-1998 (leading up to and during the 1998 ITS America Annual Meeting at Cobo Hall in Detroit, in which he was actively involved).

Additionally, he spearheaded one of the first ITS deployment projects in the nation, RCOC’s FAST-TRAC adaptive traffic-signal system. The first element of the system was installed in 1992, and the system continues to be one of the largest local ITS deployments in the nation.

Bair served on the ITS America Board from 2001 to 2006, including as chair from 2004 to 2005 and vice chair from 2003-2004. He served on the ITS America Legislative Steering Committee from 2009-2011, helping to guide ITS America’s legislative efforts.

Bair also served on and chaired the Congressional ITS Caucus Advisory Committee, from 2002-2006, which helped guide the Congressional ITS Caucus, including proposing and drafting national pro-ITS legislation. He was recognized on the floor of Congress for his contributions to the ITS field in 2004.

In 2014, Bair was named to the Michigan Transportation Hall of Fame.