A California company has been awarded a state contract for traffic signal equipment, a year after it hired Michigan’s retiring transportation director.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the state approved a $2 million contract for Econolite Systems. The newspaper says there could be future deals worth millions more.
Kirk Steudle now is a senior vice president at Econolite. The Free Press says he signed the cover letter last spring for the company’s proposal for a central control system for 280 traffic lights.
Eric Raamot, chief technology officer at Econolite, says the company responded to an open bidding process. The Free Press says Steudle didn’t respond to messages from the newspaper seeking comment.
Transportation Department spokesman Jeff Cranson says agency officials didn’t talk to Steudle about bids that led to the recent contract.