A well-traveled road
By larry meyer - argus observer
Monday, April 30, 2007 12:25 PM PDT
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| The darker line on the map shows the boundary of Oregon Department of Transportation District 14, which Tom Busche helps oversee as assistant manager, a position he has held for about 22 years. |
ONTARIO - When Tom Busche decided to go back to school to earn an engineering degree, he was looking for a stable career that would keep him close to home, and he found it at the Oregon Department of Transportation.
“I will have been with ODOT 25 years,” Busche, 58, said, and has been in Ontario for about 22 years as assistant maintenance manager.
His first project with ODOT was on the Marion Street and Center Street bridges over the Willamette River at Salem as an inspector.
“I was born and raised in Bend, where I lived until I was 25 or 26 years old. I decided to go back to school,” Busche said.
Busche had been out of school about seven years, and had a difficult time finding a job after he had been discharged from the service. After submitting a host of applications, he got on at the labor union hall in Bend to start in road construction. He started on the Cascade Lakes Highway.
“It was fun being up in the forest, building a highway. It was something I really enjoyed,” he said.
As Busche started his construction job, another man was leaving to
work for Deschutes County. Busche asked why and man told him, “I travel all over the country. I have a son who just turned 17 and I don’t know the kid.”
“That made a big impact on me,” Busche said. “I was starting a family.”
Busche started his studies at Central Oregon Community College and then transferred to Oregon State University, where he received his engineering degree.
“I used my GI Bill,” he said, with help from summer employment to pay for it.
He called contacts he had made when he was working road construction and eventually contractors were calling him to find out when he would be available.
Busche was only in Salem for about two years, when he received a promotion to bridge inspector in Region 5 in Eastern Oregon.
“My goal was to do that in four to six years,” he said of wanting to inspect all of the bridges in Eastern Oregon at least once, but that didn’t happen.
Having the responsibility of inspecting bridges all over Eastern Oregon and based in La Grande, Busche said he found the job very interesting from an engineering standpoint.
“You get to see different designs, styles and different construction techniques,” he said.
Nine months later, he went after an opportunity to become assistant maintenance manager for Region 14, which takes in Malheur and most of Harney and Grant counties. Maintenance districts do not follow county boundaries.
“I guess I was looking for something new,” Busche said. “I wanted that experience.”
As an assistant manager, he is involved in hiring personnel and enjoys watching and helping the new employees develop their skills.
“It’s a treasure hunt,” he said about hiring people. “We have some great people working for ODOT.”
As an assistant manager, much of his job involves planning, he said.
“Not everything that gets planned is built, nothing is built without a plan,” he said is his philosophy. “Each season has its needs.”
Since Busche came to Ontario, he said he has not considered moving on, having found his niche, but if he does get an offer he accepts, it will be something he will want to commit himself to.
“I feel I’ve accomplished some small things. It’s been interesting,” he said.
