ASCE has honored Anthony Saka, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, with the 2025 Harland Bartholomew Award for over 37 years of exemplary accomplishments as a transportation planner and educator, culminating in the development of travel forecasting models for localities in the Commonwealth of Virginia and one-of-a-kind academic programs credited for training and mentoring over 250 transportation planning professionals.
Saka single-handedly developed the prestigious Ph.D. program in Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Systems at Morgan State University. He is credited with restructuring the M.S. in Urban Transportation program and establishing two ABET-accredited undergraduate programs and a doctoral program in transportation. Under his chairmanship, the department has graduated 11 doctoral degrees, 78 master's degrees, and 123 baccalaureate degrees in transportation. Saka successfully collaborated with the University of Delaware to secure a $4.6 million workforce development component of the 2021 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Grant to develop and implement a railroad engineering program at Morgan State with the primary goal of empowering the underserved urban minority population through education and training.
In 1989, Saka was recruited as principal transportation planning engineer by the Rappahannock Area Development Commission (now Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Commission) to lead the regional long-range transportation planning effort encompassing the City of Fredericksburg, Strafford County, Spotsylvania County, Caroline County, and King George County (see Exhibit I). He developed the inaugural travel forecasting model (see Exhibit 2), which was acquired by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for its statewide transportation planning activities, and subsequently supported the 3-C activities of the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The Harland Bartholomew Award is presented to a Society member who is judged worthy of special commendation for enhancement of the role of civil engineers in urban planning and development.
