From 1983 to 1985 he served as special assistant for environmental affairs to then Governor of New Hampshire, John H. Sununu. In 1985 he was named as the first commissioner of the newly organized New Hampshire Department of Transportation, where he played a key role in the ending a three-decade battle over the completion of Interstate 93 through Franconia Notch State Park with the construction of the Franconia Notch Parkway, a narrow, speed-controlled 8-mile scenic parkway that required a special amendment to the standards applied across the rest of the U.S. interstate system.