Ritchie Swindell brings 25 years of experience to Tifton as the new Georgia Department of Transportation southwest district engineer.

Swindell was promoted to district engineer effective Aug. 1, taking over leadership of Georgia DOT operations in 31 counties. He succeeds retired District Engineer Chad Hartley.

“I look forward to supporting this community and working with our dedicated staff. I’m pleased to be a member of the team that will continue moving Southwest Georgia forward through construction of new infrastructure,” Swindell said. “Maintaining existing roads and bridges is equally important. I’m proud of our 285 maintenance employees who push themselves daily, ensuring safe travel in our district.”

Swindell comes to Tifton from west central Georgia, where he was district maintenance engineer. He has worked for the Department in various roles in four of the seven districts and on the statewide level.

His broad experience includes district state aid coordinator, assistant area engineer, area engineer, district administrative officer and liaison in the state maintenance office. Swindell received a bachelor’s in civil engineering technology from Georgia Southern University.

Swindell will be taking the helm of a large district that stretches to the Florida and Alabama state lines on the south and west, Coffee County on the east and Wilcox County on the north. The district office is located in Tifton, but the Department also maintains area offices in five counties. There are 2,600 bridges in the district, 3,600 state route centerline miles and 106 interstate centerline miles.