New Linn County Engineer Daineal Malone has been involved in the planning and execution of numerous road projects – from Courtney Creek Drive near Brownsville to Mill City – during her 14 years with the Linn County Road Department.
“I’m looking forward to the new challenges, although I’m going to have to delegate some of the things I’m used to doing,” she said.
“Linn County is a certified local agency,” Roadmaster Wayne Mink said. “That means we are certified to complete state-level contracts, work closely with federal funding and administer our own contracts. Daineal has been instrumental in facilitating that all along.”
He said that Malone is a licensed civil engineer and has worked closely with former County Engineer Chuck Knoll on many projects. Knoll has retired, but is working part-time until the end of the year completing some high-level projects.
The 46-year-old Malone has worked at the Road Department since 2007, after spending two years with Reece and Associates, Inc. in Albany.
She grew up in Hermiston and moved to Utah during her freshman year of high school, graduating from Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah, in 1993. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State in 2005. Reece and Associates, Inc. hired her as a land development designer that fall, and she joined the Linn County Road Department two years later.
“I enjoy the people I work with,” Malone said. “We work well together.”
She’s helped design many major Road Department projects over the years, including the Brownsville Gateway, Old Salem Road sidewalk and Quartzville corridor projects, as well as the multi-faceted bridge and roadwork underway in Mill City, a project that includes a $9.3 million TIGER grant for the North Santiam River Bridge renovation, a historic pedestrian bridge rehabilitation and Broadway Street road improvements.
The project is expected to wrap in December.
Malone and her husband, David, a Benton County land surveyor, live in Albany. They have a daughter, Aisling, 19, and a son, Aneurin, 16. She enjoys playing golf, is a former belly dancer and played rugby in the late 1990s. She also coached the Linn-Benton Lions Middle School Girls’ rugby team in 2019.
The Road Department employs 69 full-time people and seven to 10 seasonal workers. It’s responsible for 1,139 miles of road and 326 bridges. The main office is in Albany, with satellite facilities near Halsey, Scio and Sweet Home. Roadwork maintenance is divided into four districts.
– Alex Paul, Linn County Communications Officer