The head of the State Road and Tollway Authority is leaving.

Gov. Nathan Deal tapped Christopher Tomlinson on Friday to replace Gena Evans as director of the authority, which operates Georgia’s toll roads and also acts as the state’s transportation financing arm.

Evans was hand-picked by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue to lead the state Department of Transportation, and her hard-charging ways won her supporters. But the board ousted her in February 2009, citing concerns she was more attentive to Perdue’s positions than the board’s plans.

She shifted over to the tollway job after her ouster. Last year, she helped roll out a plan to end the Ga. 400 toll by December 2013.

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