Seattle Council approves Durkan nomination for SDOT director

City Council voted Monday to approve Mayor Jenny Durkan’s nomination of Sam Zimbabwe for director of the Seattle Department of Transportation.

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Zimbabwe was nominated for the position back in December, with council members voting to confirm him by an 8-0 vote Monday.

“I’m heartened that City Council voted today to confirm him as the permanent Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation,” said Mayor Durkan in a news release. “Now, we can carry on the hard work of building a city of the future with more world-class transit and safer options for biking and walking.”

Zimbabwe previously served as the Chief Project Delivery Officer for the District Department of Transportation for Washington, D.C., a position he held since 2014. He has a master’s degree in city planning and urban design from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional studies from Cornell University.

Appropriately, one of the Zimbabwe’s major projects in D.C. had him overseeing a project to increase the number of dockless scooters and bikeshares. This seems especially relevant given the rise of Lime, Uber JUMP, and Lyft bikeshares in Seattle.

“I’m excited for the challenges that await,” Zimbabwe said Monday following the confirmation vote.

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