Justin Shubow to lead Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council

National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow has been named chairman of the US Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council, a newly established federal advisory that aims to "restore the beauty of key transportation infrastructure".

The Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council (BTIC) was announced under US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and established in September 2025, while Justin Shubow was named as a member today, along with seven others.

Shubow will chair, while others, such as Beyer Blinder Belle Architects senior project architect Bradley Cambridge. Texas Department of Transportation design division director Jason Pike and Michael Baker International vice president of Design Hub Peter Quintanilla are also members.

The remaining members are Ghyabi Consulting and Management CEO Maryam Ghyabi-White, HNTB Corporation mid-Atlantic division president Bryan Jones, Gary Meisner of Meisner+ Associates | Land Vision and Kim Vierheilig of STV Inc.

"Enhancing the aesthetic value of the Nation's transportation systems"

According to the organisation, BTIC aligns with president Donald Trump's Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again executive order, which aims to establish neoclassical style as the default design for federal buildings.

An initial October press release called the organisation "first-of-its-kind".

"The purpose of the Council will be to advise the Secretary of Transportation on enhancing the aesthetic value of the Nation's transportation systems," said the statement.

"The Council will advise the Secretary on policy and design opportunities to build beautiful structures and restore the beauty of key transportation infrastructure, including highways, bridges, and transit hubs."

At the time, BTIC called for nominations highlighting "the nation's brightest architects, landscape designers, urban planners, artists, transportation engineers, and historic preservation advocates for membership".

The BTIC will be comprised of up to 11 council members, who will serve two-year terms, with possibililty of re-election. It will meet biannually.

In the nominations solicitation on the Federal Register, it also notes, "the Council may also include the current and former Chairs of the US Commission of Fine Arts and the Chief Architect of the US General Services Administration".

Shubow formally served as the Chair of the US Commission of Fine Arts from 2018 to 2021, appointed by president Trump and then removed under president Biden.

He now serves as president of the Washington DC non-profit the National Civic Art Society, which has backed a proposal to overhaul New York's Penn Station that calls for the "rebirth of classical architecture".

He also helped draft the Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again executive order and a similar order that was issued under President Trump's first term.

"Far too much of our built environment has been soulless and ugly"

"It is a true honor to be appointed chairman of the Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council," said Shubow. "From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Merritt Parkway, from Dulles Airport to Cincinnati Union Terminal, America has constructed some of the most aesthetically pleasing infrastructure in the world. Our country did it before, and we can do it again."

"Beauty in design must not be an afterthought, dismissed as an alleged luxury or anachronism in the name of pure functionalism. Yet for decades, far too much of our built environment has been soulless and ugly. Harmony with the natural and historic landscape matters, as does urban revitalization."

BTIC will hold its first meeting on February 2nd, which will be live-streamed.

In early 2025, Shubow spoke to Dezeen to about the Federal government's architecture mandates.

Various architecture and design groups have protested the emphasis on classical architecture and design under the administration, including the AIA, which expressed serious concerns over the executive orders.

Photo by RDNE Stock project via Pexels.

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