The beginning of the Blue Ridge Section of ASHE dates back to early 2006 when Rob Cary, P.E., P.L.S., VDOT Salem District PE Manager, inquired about starting a Section in western Virginia. Rich Clifton then really started the ball rolling from that point. Rich, Paul Trapp, and Dave Jones came to visit a few weeks later and met with a group of about (20) representatives of VDOT, consultants, and local government staff to explain the process and provide direction on how to proceed. At that point we already were a long way towards getting the minimum number of members to start a new Section.

Mike Russell volunteered to lead the effort to organize the Section. Following a second organizational meeting with Rich and Paul we had the tentative date for our introductory meeting and a planned guest speaker lined up. VDOT had just gotten a new Commissioner and he readily agreed to help us out by speaking at out kick off meeting.

After a few months of planning, approximately (75) folks attended the kick off meeting which was a great success in our opinion! All attendees agreed there was a great need for a professional organization such as ASHE in the area to get members of the transportation industry an opportunity to meet on a regular basis. Membership applications were distributed and within a couple of months we had (65) applications and really started the ball rolling at that point. Todd Repass jumped in and handled all of the coordination with National to get us chartered on November 7, 2007 when we officially became the Blue Ridge Section. Ken Walus, State Structure and Bridge Engineer, was our guest speaker for the meeting.