MaineDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note announces retirement

Bruce Van Note, commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), announced his plan to retire from this position on Aug. 15, 2025.  

Maine Gov. Janet Mills nominated Van Note as commissioner of MaineDOT in 2019. His tenure as commissioner culminates a professional transportation career of over 30 years in Maine, which also included a dozen years as deputy commissioner of MaineDOT from 2002 to 2014, and as director of policy and planning for the Maine Turnpike Authority (MTA) from 2014 through 2019. 

As commissioner, MaineDOT says Van Note earned a reputation as a pragmatic and effective leader who maximized the agency's resources to drive forward new initiatives while maintaining Maine's safe and reliable transportation network. 

"Bruce Van Note has set a high standard for practicality and productivity and has been an invaluable member of my cabinet. Together we faced pandemic and post-pandemic workforce challenges, the allocation of new federal funds, balancing legislative priorities, the need for public transportation in a rural state and the constant need to protect the public safety on our highways," Mills said. "As an engineer and attorney, Bruce is at home working both in the field and in the State House, engineering ways to adapt our highways to alternative modes of transportation, to make travel as safe as possible, to enact policy in nonpartisan manner and, very simply, to fix the potholes. Bruce leaves a remarkable legacy as MaineDOT commissioner. I will miss his contributions to my administration, and I wish him nothing but the best following his retirement." 

Under his leadership, MaineDOT completed projects such as the construction of the Madawaska-Edmunston International Bridge; the opening of the I-395/Route 9 Connector, which moved freight traffic from surface streets in Bangor and Brewer to a more efficient connection between Canada and points south; the creation of LAP, a new commuter bus service between Lewiston, Auburn and Portland; expanded active transportation options; and revitalized downtowns from York to Aroostook counties through MaineDOT's Village Partnership Initiative. 

Van Note was also instrumental in guiding changes to the state's highway fund to unlock new, sustainable revenue for state transportation investments that has reduced the need for general obligation bonding; led the agency's implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and led MaineDOT's response to the severe winter storms in December 2023 and January 2024 that caused more than $90 million in damage to public infrastructure around the state. 

"Serving as MaineDOT commissioner has been the honor and privilege of my life. I want to thank Gov. Mills for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of Maine, the state I love,” Van Note said. “With her support, and through the efforts of the MaineDOT team, our consultant and contractor partners and lawmakers at the federal and state levels, we have made a real difference in safety, economic opportunity and quality of life in Maine.  

“There have been many challenges to overcome including the pandemic, significant increases in construction costs, workforce shortages, extreme storms and more. They made this one of the toughest jobs you'll ever love, but finding solutions is what we do, and throughout it all, I'm proud of the smart and steady progress we've made for the people of Maine,” Van Note concluded.  

Prior to serving as commissioner, Van Note was a member of the MTA Board of Directors and chair of the Maine Port Authority. In 2010, he was awarded the David H. Stevens Award—MaineDOT's highest honor—for "demonstrated transportation excellence" for leading projects like the Sagadahoc Bridge, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory and the Naples Bay Bridge. 

Van Note, an engineering graduate, attorney and professional land surveyor, was born in Houlton and grew up in Bath. He earned a bachelor’s in surveying engineering with highest distinction honors from the University of Maine in Orono and a juris doctorate with honors from the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. 

Upon Van Note's retirement, Mills will appoint MaineDOT Deputy Commissioner Dale Doughty as acting commissioner. Doughty has nearly three decades of experience with MaineDOT. Prior to assuming the deputy commissioner's role, Doughty served as the director of the bureau of planning and director of the bureau of maintenance and operations. 

The commissioner's position is a cabinet-level appointment, subject to a hearing before the Legislature's Transportation Committee and confirmation by the Maine State Senate.