ITSNJ Hall of Fame Award

Each year an individual who has contributed significantly to achieving ITS in New Jersey throughout their career is honored as an inductee into the ITSNJ Hall of Fame. The ITSNJ Hall of Fame inductee should be a recognizable pillar of the ITS industry. Someone who serves as a champion, leader, subject matter expert and an ITS advocate. The inductee is a dedicated driver of ITS, is often referred to as innovative, a leader, a mentor, an icon working tirelessly to advance ITS through sustained participation.

This prestigious award is selected by the Executive Committee.

2025 Hall of Fame Recipient
Jack Hayes

For more than five decades, Jack has shaped the way people move safely and efficiently, leaving an extraordinary legacy across New Jersey and far beyond.

He began his career at NJDOT in 1969, and over the next 28 years, he rose from engineer to leader of the state’s very first Intelligent Transportation Systems unit. Under his vision, New Jersey saw its earliest traffic control networks, the first statewide traffic cameras, and the debut of LED dynamic message signs. He helped launch the Statewide Traffic Management Center, a hub of interagency coordination that continues to serve millions of travelers every day.

Jack also drove innovation on the technical side — from high-mast lighting designs that won national awards, to pioneering closed-loop and adaptive traffic signal systems, to standards and manuals that became the foundation for practice in the state. His work literally set the stage for three decades of ITS projects that followed.

But his impact was national as well. After Hurricane Katrina, Jack led efforts in New Orleans to reconstruct more than 400 traffic signals, restoring mobility to a city in crisis. In the years that followed, he guided major ITS and infrastructure projects across New York, Texas, Massachusetts, and Louisiana, including the World Trade Center Vehicular Security Center, the Atlantic City Expressway ITS expansion, and advanced transit and airport projects.