TRAINING
NEWS
20
American Traffic Safety Services Association
ATSSA Master Instructor
John McEahern Retires
John McEahern, who has taught every class ATSSA offers with the exception of two (Pavement
Marking classes) for 14 years, announced his retirement in July. An integral part of the ATSSA
team, he was honored by the ATSSA board of directors with a life membership in the association,
a designation awarded to individuals who are fully retired from active business, have been active
members for at least 10 years and are approved by the board of directors.
McEahern, of Colorado, taught classes for various reasons, including that he felt he was doing
something beneficial for the roadway industry, and he enjoyed the interaction with students.
“I felt I was doing something positive in the industry and wanted to share the knowledge I gained
over the years with the students,” said McEahern. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the
ATSSA team.”
An independent traffic engineering consultant with more than 45 years of highway design,
construction and traffic engineering experience, he is president of McEahern Consulting, Inc.,
a Colorado corporation (incorporated in 2000). While he expected to provide traffic engineering
advice and review to clients, he found, instead, that his schedule of exclusively teaching ATSSA
classes fit perfectly with his plans to enjoy retirement. With his background and knowledge of the
industry, the decision was a “win-win” situation for McEahern, ATSSA and the students.
For more than a decade, McEahern taught hundreds of classes throughout the U.S., including
Traffic Control Technician, Traffic Control Supervisor, Maintenance and Short Duration,
Nighttime Traffic Control, Urban Work Zone Design, Flagger Instructor, Traffic Control Design
Specialist, Longitudinal Barrier Systems, Guardrail Installation and Incident Control for
Responders.
“ATSSA’s ‘Toward Zero Deaths’ initiative is very admirable,” said McEahern. “A review of the
fatalities on our nation’s roadways over the past 60 years shows a downward trend, which is partly
attributable to the efforts of organizations such as ATSSA. In my career, I’ve seen an improvement
in the overall treatment of temporary traffic control in construction, maintenance and incident
work zones. I always told my students that the one thing I hoped for was that they would safely
perform their duties and go home to their families at the end of the day. I’ve known several people
who were killed on the job, and every one gave me a reason to ‘get the word out’ about how to do
their jobs safely and efficiently.”
Born and raised in Denver, Colo., McEahern has been married to his wife, Patricia, for 47 years.
He has a son, Michael, and a daughter, Colleen, who passed away last year, as well as three
grandchildren. His most enjoyable hobby is woodworking, especially making cedar chests for his
extended family members. The chests are copies of those McEahern’s grandfather made for his
mother when she was a child in the 1920s. He enjoys fly fishing and looking for grammatical errors,
misspelled words and inconsistencies in class PowerPoint presentations and student notebooks.
“I guess it was a fetish of mine to make sure these presentations were perfect,” he said.
John McEahern, who
taught nearly every
ATSSA training course,
retired after 14 years
with the association. The
ATSSA board of directors
awarded him with a life
membership in ATSSA
at the July 18 meeting.
