It won't be long before there's a new person in charge of the "roads-and-streets" file at Toronto city hall.
Barbara Gray is a veteran civil servant who will replace Stephen Buckley, the outgoing head of Toronto Transportation Services, who is taking a job back home in Pennsylvania after spending the last 3-and-a-half years with the City of Toronto.
Gray comes to Canada from Seattle, where she has worked for the last 17 years, most recently as the deputy director of the city's Transportation division.
The head of Toronto city hall's Public Works Committee is thrilled with the new hire and gushes about Gray's credentials and experience as someone who can improve the way traffic flows.
"It is a massive undertaking because [Gray] will oversee all the transportation infrastructure across the city," says councillor Jaye Robinson.
"The scale and scope of this job is mammoth and we really believe Barbara Gray is up for it."
Gray beat out other candidates from all over the world to land the job in Toronto. While Robinson says that local candidates were considered, there was no better fit than the person they chose.
"We probably have more challenges (surrounding gridlock and traffic) than any other city across Canada," Robinson says.
"We really felt that we had to have an international search to bring in the best possible candidate."
Robinson says given Toronto's size, rapid development, and population growth; the city was looking for someone who could "hit the ground running."
She adds that one of the things the city was looking for in a candidate was an ability to get things done in a large public enterprise, and Robinson says Gray's ability to do so will be a big asset to city hall.
It is the finer points of dealing with snowy Toronto winters that Gray will have to learn on the job.
She comes from a coastal city that receives little to no snow each year, but Robinson is confident that the new hire is ready to tackle the challenges of her first Southern Ontario winter.
"Without a doubt, the snow is going to be a new entity for her, but it doesn't take long to get up to speed."
Gray will begin at her new post early next month.