State Transportation Board chairman Mike Evans stunned the transportation community Thursday when he announced he will resign from the board because of a personal relationship with new commissioner Gena Abraham.

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Mike Evans

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Gena Abraham

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Neither Evans, 47, nor Abraham, 39, is married.

Evans said that, over the last month, he and Abraham have developed a relationship they both want to be more than friendship.

"I've grown to admire and respect her more and more every day," Evans said, citing her integrity and work ethic.

Department of Transportation policy forbids intimate relationships between subordinates and their superiors in the chain of command. Abraham reports to the board Evans chairs.

"It was real clear that it was a distraction, with the rumors over the last three or four days," Evans said Thursday evening. "One of us had to go, if we were going to have some kind of relationship ... and to me it was real clear that it needed to me."

Abraham, who took over Dec. 1, was a new experience for DOT on several levels: She is the first woman commissioner, she has a doctorate in engineering, and she's a full-bore reformer. She has spent her first months issuing blistering reports of DOT's finances and project management.

No decision was made or announced on Abraham's future with the department. The board called a special meeting for Monday.

"I don't know what's going to happen on Monday," member Robert Brown said. "I think we needed time to digest the resignation of the chairman and to look to where we go next."

Evans said he hopes the board will strongly back Abraham to stay, adding that "I really think in my heart she is the last best hope for that department."

Brown was among those board members who appeared shell-shocked at the news where they said they had just learned Wednesday. Among the board's concerns now, he said, is making sure the leadership is "stabilized and orderly."

Abraham did not respond to questions.

Support for her came Thursday from a quarter frequently at odds with DOT. "[Cobb County Commission Chairman and Atlanta Regional Commission Chairman] Sam Olens and I both feel strongly that Gena should stay in her present job," said Chick Krautler, director of ARC. "She's really done phenomenal work there in a short period of time."

Evans' resignation is an earthquake under the politics of DOT, which in recent months revolved around Abraham's hard-charging leadership and her newly solidified mandate to set the department straight.

She and Evans have worked hand-in-glove since she took office Dec. 1. Their work relationship was a departure from his dealings with the previous commissioner. Evans, a Cumming property developer whose board position is unpaid, appeared with Abraham at meetings and announcements to voice his support as board chairman.

Abraham works long hours and was in constant contact with Evans. Their friendly relationship was increasingly evident; overseeing a presentation on the DOT board's new Web site in March, she burst into conspiratorial laughter at a slide of an old photo of Evans with a pony-tail inserted in the presentation as a joke.

In the rumor-infested Capitol, rife with Evans' and Abrahams' political opponents, tales surfaced months ago about a relationship, but Evans said the two first broached the possibility about a month ago.

The board's long agenda for its regular, monthly, two-day board meeting went off course at the end of the first day Wednesday, when the board went into a long closed-door meeting to discuss personnel matters.

Thursday morning the crowd of consultants, lobbyists and DOT employees attending the meeting was abuzz as they milled in the hallway outside another closed-door meeting for two and a half hours.

Former Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl, whom Abraham replaced, has endured months of Abraham's criticism of the way the department was run before her, and seemed particularly cheerful Thursday. Asked whether he was looking forward to the day's events, he said, "I'm not going to comment."

Some of Evans' allies paid with serious political capital this winter for their support of him. They lost Legislative leadership positions and perks.

Evans said in a statement he e-mailed to legislators Thursday before his announcement that, to those who "suffered great losses in support of me ... I will spend the rest of my days trying to restore their trust and in gaining their forgiveness for having stepped down at this point in my term."

In the 2007 contest to replace the retiring commissioner, Evans supported Gov. Sonny Perdue's choice, Abraham, who was opposed by House Speaker Glenn Richardson. As chairman, Evans cast the tie-breaking vote for Abraham.

When Evans faced re-election to the board Feb. 1, Richardson campaigned against him, pressuring the legislators who choose Evans' board seat to vote against him. Evans won.

Those two elections, the board's vote for Abraham and the legislative caucus' vote to retain Evans, seemed to cement Abraham's reformist course for the department. Likely heavyweight opponents were marginalized, for the time being.

Richardson declined comment Thursday through a spokeswoman.

A spokesman for Perdue, Bert Brantley, said Perdue was traveling and will respond Friday.

Evans said at the board meeting that he and Abraham had gone to the vice chairman, Garland Pinholster, about two weeks ago to let him know and to chart a course.

"We concluded at the time, two weeks ago, that it was best to inform the board, and that was done yesterday in executive session," Evans said.

Some board members indicated they do not believe that Evans intended to bring the matter to the full board and resign this soon, but board member Dana Lemon asked for the executive session Wednesday. Evans' term as board chairman concludes June 30; his board term would have expired 2013.

Evans said that he intended to bring the matter before the board Thursday morning. He said he hadn't been sure when he would resign but this week the issue "ramped up to a fever pitch in a very short period of time."

Asked if the relationship was worth the cost, he said that except for the people he had disappointed, "I'm satisfied with where I'm at."

Board member David Doss said he is "sad" about Evans' resignation, but "it was the right thing to do under the circumstances."

— Jim Galloway contributed to this article