MDDOT Secretary Wiedefeld Steps Down

Maryland DOT Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld has stepped down from the position. Deputy Secretary Samantha J. Biddle is to serve as acting secretary during the search to fill the official state cabinet post.

Wiedefeld’s career has spanned more than 40 years, including transportation posts in the public and private sectors. Before MDDOT, he served as general manager and CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from 2015 to 2022, chief executive officer of the Maryland Aviation Administration from 2002 to 2005 and from 2009 to 2015, and Administrator of the Maryland Transportation Administration from 2007 to 2009.

Wiedefeld secured more than $5 billion in federal grants to advance transportation projects for Maryland, including $213 million to replace the Maryland Transit Administration’s light rail vehicles; $80 million for the Maryland Transportation Authority’s I-895 Baltimore Harbor Tunnel enhancement project, $30 million for Port of Baltimore’s Dundalk Marine Terminal reconstruction of berths 11-1; and billions in federal funds, alongside Amtrak, to transform the Northeast Corridor and MARC Penn Line.

He currently serves as vice president of the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials. In January 2025, he was honored with the Eno Transportation Center’s inaugural Downey Legacy of Service Award.

Samantha Biddle has served as MDDOT deputy transportation secretary since 2023. She has spent nearly two decades in the transportation industry, serving in both the public and private sector. Biddle joined state service in 2014, beginning as the State Highway Administration’s regional planner for Frederick and Montgomery counties. She was then promoted to assistant chief and chief of regional and intermodal planning, then to director of organizational excellence and strategy. She then served as chief strategy officer in the secretary’s office before being promoted to chief of staff.

Biddle has completed the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Executive Institute and State Highway Administration Advanced Leadership Program. She is a director-at-large for the Women’s Transportation Seminar– Baltimore Chapter. Biddle was named one of the Daily Record’s Maryland Top 100 Women for 2024 and named WTS Baltimore’s Woman of the Year in 2024.