(1) The chief engineer is the director of the engineering, design, and construction division and has direct control and management of the functions of the division subject only to the direction and supervision of the executive director as prescribed in this part 1. The chief engineer shall attend all meetings of the commission and, except as otherwise provided by this part 1 or other law, the chief engineer shall perform all of the duties and exercise all of the powers vested by law in the engineering, design, and construction division, including the awarding, under the supervision of the executive director, of all contracts for the construction or maintenance of state highways and mass transportation projects. It is the duty of the chief engineer in the administration of the division to so organize the same that all employees of the division, so far as possible, are interchangeable in work assignment and may be shifted within the division to meet seasonal and emergency demands.

(2) Repealed.

(3) The chief engineer and the executive director are hereby authorized to accept, on behalf of the state, any federal moneys made available for highway, railway, mass transit, and other public transportation purposes for which no regional or local subdivision of the state has operating authority; except that, if an intergovernmental agreement between the Denver regional transportation district and the department concerning the southeast corridor intermodal transportation project is not signed by October 15, 1999, then the chief engineer and the executive director are authorized to accept, on behalf of the state, any federal transit funds made available.

(4) The executive director or the chief engineer shall represent the department in negotiations with local governmental entities concerning intergovernmental agreements between the department and such local governmental entities to implement the provisions of this article. No such intergovernmental agreement involving more than seven hundred fifty thousand dollars shall become effective without the approval of the commission.