National Engineers Week: Meeting an engineer from a family of engineers

During National Engineers Week, we’re asking engineers on some of ADOT’s projects to talk about their work and careers. Let us introduce you to Resident Engineer Chris Page, who directly oversees our Interstate 10 widening project in the northwest Tucson area.

What sparked your interest in engineering?

I grew up in a family of engineers. My father and brother are both mechanical engineers. So my interest took off from watching what they were doing when I was young. I originally started off in college with a plan to major in aerospace or mechanical engineering. But as I have always been more of an outdoors person and have a hard time being in one place all day, I decided to change to civil engineering in hopes of being able to do more field work. While I was in college, the widening of I-10 through downtown Tucson was going on, and I had the "pleasure" of driving through it every day to and from college. But as I watched the work taking place, I developed an interest in civil engineering and specifically construction. Little did I know that I would end up working for ADOT several years later and eventually managing similar projects.

What steps have you taken as your career at ADOT has advanced?

When I was in college, I was looking for an internship related to engineering so that I could gain more real world experience. I ended up taking on an internship in traffic engineering at a local government. I had no specific interest in traffic engineering, but at that time I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my specific career path. After graduation I spent a short time working for a contractor, then a full-time position opened up in traffic engineering again with the local government agency. After spending a few years there, I had the opportunity to apply for a position at ADOT in traffic engineering. I knew that ADOT had more opportunities to advance and also learn different aspects of transportation engineering. After about a year, I got my Professional Engineer license, and a resident engineer position opened up. I ended up really enjoying construction management, as it really encompasses all aspects of civil engineering. From there the rest is history as they say.

What responsibilities does a Senior Resident Engineer have at ADOT?

There are so many hats a resident engineer wears. One side of the coin is management of employees, including hiring, training, culture management, etc. The other side of the coin is the construction management aspect. Essentially, the resident engineer is responsible for ensuring the safety of the public through our construction projects, ensuring that the contractors are compensated fairly for the work while also being accountable to taxpayers, and ensuring the project is built to a high standard of quality. We also spend quite a bit of time reviewing plans for upcoming projects, and incorporating any lessons learned on past projects to make things more efficient and cost effective in the future. We also participate in advocating for changes to the contracts and specifications to alleviate any issues that we have encountered in the past.

The I-10 Ina to Ruthrauff project in the Tucson area has been under construction for almost a year. What are your specific responsibilities now?

The northwest side of Tucson where this project is located is constantly expanding and growing in population. This makes for a very precarious location to try to widen a freeway and replace/build nine bridges. So I spend a good amount of time ensuring that the traffic control is properly set up and adequate, and that emergency responders are always aware of the continuously changing conditions. Traffic control through a complex area such as this is not "set it and forget it," but rather is always evolving. On a similar note, I work with the contractor to ensure that the project is kept as close to the original schedule as possible. The sooner we can get the freeway to max capacity, the better for the traveling public.

What does working for ADOT mean to you, and what advice would you have for young people considering a career in transportation engineering?

My advice for someone considering a career in transportation engineering, or any field really, is to find something you can be passionate about. Most careers have the same ingredients: meetings, emails, negotiations, conflict management, etc.  But if you can find a field you are passionate about, you will not grow tired of mixing those ingredients on a daily basis to solve problems. For me, I am passionate about public safety and public service. Right now I am working on a project with over 100,000 vehicles per day traveling through. That is a lot of people that we impact positively or negatively.  If I can go home at the end of the day knowing that I helped to get them home safely to their families (and hopefully a little quicker than before), then I have done my job well.