A veteran Odessa highway department employee completed a 26-year climb from teenage summer-hire to district engineer last week, according to an announcement Thursday by Amadeo Saenz, Texas Department of Transportation executive director.

Mike C. McAnally, 49, was named to succeed Lauren Gardu?o as the head engineer for the 12-county Odessa District, which includes Andrews, Crane, Ector, Loving, Martin, Midland, Pecos, Reeves, Terrell, Upton, Ward, and Winker counties. He will oversee the construction and maintenance activities of over 300 employees for the nearly 3,400 miles of highways across an 18,000-square mile area of West Texas.

The new district engineer started his TxDOT career as a summer employee in the Fort Stockton area office while he was attending Texas A&M University and was hired full-time in the Midland Area office following graduation from A&M in civil engineering in 1982.

McAnally's climb up the TxDOT career ladder included stops in the Odessa area office as area engineer and in the district office as district director of operations. He also managed design teams for various projects in Dallas and Fort Worth.

In his most recent role as director of operations, he managed all the maintenance, construction and traffic operations for the Odessa District.

For the past year, McAnally has also served as the interim director of transportation planning and development, managing district design, advance planning, right of way, environmental, public transportation, consultant and contract management, and coordination with the metropolitan planning organization.

Effective March 1, he succeeds Gardu?o, who was named as the District Engineer for the neighboring Abilene District. McAnally and his wife, Janee', live in Midland.