The State - News from Nov. 3, 1987

Leo Trombatore, director of the state Department of Transportation since 1983, announced he will retire Dec. 30 after 40 years with Caltrans. Trombatore, 61, who has headed the agency since the start of the Deukmejian Administration, took credit for stepping up the pace of highway work and claimed to have eliminated a five-year backlog in repaving potholes on highways and freeways. “Leo Trombatore inherited a department that was virtually at a standstill and in a very short time repaired and upgraded California’s extensive highway system,” Gov. George Deukmejian said in accepting his resignation.