1 and 6 Year Road Plan
The County’s official planning page provides annual one-year and six-year road plans for capital and maintenance priorities.
Official Road Plan page →Experience
Public Works, Transportation & Operational Leadership
A career spanning county road and bridge operations, statewide transportation support, municipal public works, transportation research, and military leadership.
High-country snow clearing in Ouray County · Ty Barger field photograph, June 2026. Illustrative; the precise route is not identified.
Ouray County, Colorado
Road & Bridge Superintendent | April 2021–Present
Responsible for maintenance and construction of roads and bridges throughout unincorporated Ouray County, including paved and unpaved roads, high-country roads, and mountain passes.
- Authored, staffed, and implemented the County’s Right-of-Way Encroachment Permitting Policy.
- Reorganized departmental staffing to decentralize authority and improve operational efficiency.
- Worked to increase service levels to the community.
- Developed the County’s One-and-Six Year Road Plan.
- Directed road, bridge, equipment, and operational activities in a demanding mountain environment.
Selected county projects
Ouray County’s 2025 award release credits Ty with securing direct congressional funding through FEMA for the Corbett Creek crossing, a debris-flow evacuation route where bridge and wing-wall redesign was needed. It also credits him with coordinating helicopter-assisted mitigation and clearing after a major rockfall on CR-361 (Camp Bird Road), enabling summer access to Yankee Boy Basin during closures.
Independent references
Nebraska Department of Transportation
Highway Operations Assistant Division Manager | 2017–2021
Oversaw statewide operational-support functions including procurement, commercial construction, operations support, facilities maintenance, fleet management, and emergency-management coordination.
- Evaluated statewide programs and implemented cost-saving practices.
- Advocated for increased investment in capital facilities and fleet replacement.
- Resolved contract disputes and enforced vendor performance requirements.
- Represented Nebraska as a voting member of the AASHTO Committee on Maintenance.
- Represented Nebraska in the Clear Roads national research consortium.
Transportation research & process improvement
Nebraska DOT research materials identify Ty as a lead technical advisory member on validation of the Mechanical Rocker Test for measuring the ice-melting capacity of liquid deicers. NDOT later used the validated test in procurement scoring.
An NDOT Roadrunner report also documented a redesigned liquid-deicer purchasing process that reduced end-to-end processing time from 39 days to 12 days, with Ty describing plans to build on the improvement for other deicing products.
City of Lincoln, Nebraska
Public Works Maintenance Manager | September 2014–April 2017
This department was then named Public Works and Utilities; the City renamed it Transportation and Utilities in 2019.
Senior manager of a 120-person unionized municipal workforce responsible for streets, fleet, and facilities.
- Managed several multimillion-dollar operating budgets and contract-administration responsibilities.
- Oversaw approximately 2,800 lane-miles of public right-of-way and three major maintenance facilities.
- Managed fleet, street maintenance, NPDES/MS4 environmental compliance, vegetation control, and labor-relations responsibilities.
- Developed detailed procedures for interdepartmental operations.
- Developed and implemented an innovative winter-maintenance program. Ty reports an approximately 30 percent reduction in total program costs, including savings from shorter and less frequent crew and equipment deployments; the case study explains the sourcing.
Innovation, winter maintenance & operations
Professional coverage from this period includes a technical Roads & Bridges article on customized brine, a Government Fleet feature on improved pothole-repair efficiency, and a Boise State Public Radio interview about Lincoln’s snow-removal practices.
Customizing Brine
Lincoln winter maintenance case study
Government Fleet feature
Lincoln spray-patching case study
Boise State Public Radio
2019 deicing-brine patent
2023 divisional patent
City of Lincoln strategic plan
Earlier municipal operations
From January to September 2014, as a Street Maintenance District Supervisor, Ty directly supervised stormwater field crews and street-sanitation operations and supported maintenance of a municipal stormwater system connecting approximately 23,000 inlets. He also developed a comprehensive departmental training program covering equipment, operating procedures, standards of performance, and safety controls.
United States Marine Corps
Enlisted Marine, Officer & Senior Officer
Ty served in the United States Marine Corps from enlisted service through the rank of Major. His assignments included Installation Operations Officer, Installation Training Officer, Battalion Executive Officer, Battalion Operations & Training Officer, Infantry Company Commander, Headquarters & Service Company Commander, School Administrator, Company Executive Officer, Platoon Commander, Instructor, and Section Leader.
His responsibilities ranged from leading small operational teams to managing organizations involving thousands of civilian employees and service members, with work encompassing organizational planning, training, emergency preparedness, environmental programs, executive briefings, and overseas contingency operations.
A 2005 Hawaii Marine report identifies Capt. Ty Barger as a company commander and describes a convoy training course he led. The 2001 and 2008 Congressional Record entries list Tyrrell L. Barger among Marine officers nominated for appointment to first lieutenant and major, respectively.
Outside his assignments, the 2004 JFK 50 Mile race military team results list Tyrrell Barger with the Quantico Ultramarath team.
Policy & Planning
Road & Bridge policy development
Two official Ouray County resources illustrate Ty Barger’s emphasis on long-range planning and supervisory leadership within Road & Bridge.
Policy Bulletin 21-02 — Leadership
The leadership bulletin establishes expectations for supervisors across the department, including decision-making, delegation, communication, training, accountability and employee development.
Official Leadership bulletin →