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November 25, 2002 2:20 PM, EST

Annette Sandberg, deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will likely be the next administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, based on comments by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta in an exclusive interview with Transport Topics.

Sandberg's name was released by the Department of Transportation Nov. 25 as a candidate to fill the deputy administrator position within the agency responsible for motor carrier safety.

Sandberg will then be promoted to the administrator position in about a month, after current administrator Joseph M. Clapp leaves office, Transport Topics has been informed.

Clapp intends to leave office before January, said Mineta.

"What we are going to do is we are going to fill the deputy spot and have that person occupy the No. 1 spot when Joe leaves," said Mineta as part of his exclusive interview with Transport Topics from Nov. 20.