Tiffani Penson, the state official in charge of managing Portland’s Rose Quarter freeway expansion project, left her position this week as the project trudges forward with a projected $1.5 billion funding gap.
Penson resigned from the Oregon Department of Transportation just eight months after she joined the agency to head its division focused on delivering major infrastructure projects. Her departure is the latest in an exodus of key leaders at the agency, which has faced significant cost overruns on an assortment of projects and intense scrutiny from lawmakers this year.
“While my time in this role has been relatively short, I am proud of the progress we made together toward modernizing our region’s aging transportation system,” Penson said in a Monday email to staff announcing her next-day departure, provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive by the agency…