NORTHAMPTON — The highway director at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation District 2 office in Northampton has been placed on unpaid leave over a personnel matter and an interim director was appointed to fill the position on Friday.
District 2 Highway Director Patrick J. Paul was placed on unpaid leave March 30 for reasons MassDOT declined to reveal. For the past week, District 2 Project Development Engineer Richard Masse has served in the role of acting director.
On Friday, the state agency named Peter Cavicchi as interim highway director, and Masse is immediately returning to his previous position, according to spokeswoman Jacquelyn Goddard.
Cavicchi has been the operations engineer for Highway District 3 in Worcester.
District 2 includes operations in 56 cities and towns throughout Hampshire, Franklin, Hampden and Worcester counties and has overseen the Interstate 91 viaduct project in Springfield. There are more than 2,000 lane miles of state highway and 500 state-owned bridges in the district.
The circumstances surrounding Paul’s leave were not publicly revealed. Paul began his tenure with the state in March 2016 after holding construction management roles with Lane Construction in Northfield.
David Procopio, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police, said two members were at MassDOT’s District 2 headquarters on North King Street last week when a MassDOT supervisor notified Paul that he was being placed on unpaid leave.
“This is standard procedure when we are requested to do so,” Procopio wrote in an email, adding that Paul left the office without incident and was transported home by another worker.
A state police patrol followed that escort to make sure there was no incident at Paul’s residence.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
