ODOT names new District 5 engineer, directors for Local Government, Maintenance and Roadway Design

Oklahoma Department of Transportation Press Release

August 19, 2025

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation has announced a new District 5 Engineer in Western Oklahoma and three new directors for its Local Government, Maintenance and Roadway Design divisions.

Will Snipes was named ODOT’s District 5 Engineer in July 2025. In this role, he oversees all maintenance and construction operations across the 11 counties in western Oklahoma. He leads the district’s engineering and field personnel, coordinates major infrastructure projects and ensures the safety and reliability of state highway systems throughout the region.

Snipes has spent the majority of his professional career with ODOT, most recently serving as District 5 construction engineer from 2010 to 2025. He was in the summer engineering intern program throughout the 90s then hired full time after graduating college in 2000. He worked at the Clinton Residency before being promoted to construction engineer.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in construction management from Oklahoma State University in 2000 and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Snipes and his family reside in Elk City.

Jonathan Arps was named ODOT’s State Maintenance Engineer in July 2025.

In this position, Arps will implement cost-effective preventive maintenance, upgrades and repair strategies to maintain highways, bridges and facilities and will oversee all operations involving snow and ice removal during winter weather.

Arps has more than 20 years of experience at ODOT, most recently serving as the district maintenance engineer at District 1 headquarters in Muskogee. Since joining the department in 2003, he has held a variety of positions including engineer in training, inspector, project manager, bridge and local programs engineer and resident engineer.

His notable work includes project management over the I-235 interchange reconstruction at 36th St. in Oklahoma City and overseeing work on SH-33 and US-177 over the Cimarron River.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Arps and his family will be relocating from Broken Arrow to Oklahoma City.

Steven Gauthe was named ODOT’s Local Government Division Engineer in May 2025.

He began his career at a private engineering consulting firm from 2014 to 2016. He completed an engineering intern rotation from 2016 to 2017, gaining valuable experience in various engineering projects.

In 2017, Gauthe relocated to Oklahoma from Louisiana and joined ODOT as an engineer-in-training. He served as the Bridge and Local Government engineer in District 4 in Perry from 2017 to 2018, then transitioned to the Environmental Programs Division as the assistant division engineer from 2018 to 2020.

Gauthe later returned to District 4 as the Bridge and Local Government engineer, a position he held until November 2024 when he was named state maintenance engineer.

Gauthe earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Southern University and A&M College.

He and his family reside in Oklahoma City.

Lauren January was named ODOT’s Roadway Design Engineer in Aug. 2025. In this leadership role, she is responsible for overseeing the design of highway projects across the state, ensuring they meet safety, efficiency and engineering standards.

Since 2022, January has served as ODOT’s state traffic engineer. Her previous roles include assistant state traffic engineer and state geometric engineer, where she led efforts in geometric design and traffic analytics within the Roadway Design Division.

She began her career at ODOT in 2013 as an intern and later advanced through roles as a professional engineer and manager in the Traffic Engineering Division. She also brings prior experience from the private consulting sector.

January earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma and became a licensed Professional Engineer in 2013. She has been active in many leadership roles within the department and is active in state and national organizations, such as the Oklahoma Traffic Engineering Association, WASHTO, AASHTO and the Safe Oklahoma Summit. January and her family reside in Edmond.

View the press release: Oklahoma.gov