People Spotlight: Meet Michael Girman
Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week, we are highlighting a senior vice president and regional business line leader from our Transportation business in the U.S. East and Latin America region and providing an insight into his inspiration and work.
Michael Girman has 37 years of experience managing major transportation projects through all aspects of the development process. During his 18 years with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Engineering District 6-0, he oversaw some of the most significant and complex projects executed in southeastern Pennsylvania. As a senior program manager, he handled the day-to-day decision-making on a wide range of design and coordination issues while maintaining the schedule for more than 25 active projects with a construction value over $2.5 billion. His PennDOT experience included new alignment, widening and reconstruction projects in heavily populated urban and suburban environments.
Michael’s work involved extensive coordination with agencies such as the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, Delaware River Port Authority and the city of Philadelphia. He is familiar with state and federal permitting procedures and agencies, and has comprehensive experience coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Highway Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and numerous state Departments including the Department of Environmental Protection. He has considerable railroad coordination experience with both mass transit agencies (such as Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Amtrak) and freight railroads, including CSX and Norfolk Southern. All these relationships and experiences translated nicely to the private sector when he left PennDOT to join AECOM. During his 19 years at AECOM, Michael has helped advance transformational projects across transportation market sectors.
Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry.
When I was a kid — just 5 or 6 years old — I started talking about building bridges. I loved suspension bridges and truss bridges. Throughout school, I always scored high on science and math tests, and this helped me trust my instincts and my interests. When it came time to apply to colleges, I knew I wanted to study engineering. I graduated college in the 1980s, when the job market was tight for civil engineers. My dad was a state employee working for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and he encouraged me to take a civil service test. Ultimately, I was hired by PennDOT Engineering District 6-0 in the Philadelphia area, and this helped me build a career that aligns with my passion for bridges and roads. As a regional business line leader, I help advance all types of major transportation projects that get people where they need to go. This never gets old.
When I was a kid — just 5 or 6 years old — I started talking about building bridges. I loved suspension bridges and truss bridges. When it came time to apply to colleges, I knew I wanted to study engineering. Ultimately, I was hired by PennDOT Engineering District 6-0 in the Philadelphia area, and this helped me build a career that aligns with my passion for bridges and roads.”
What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?
The I-95 corridor reconstruction program covers a little more than 50 miles of Interstate in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it has spanned much of my career, first at PennDOT and then AECOM. I’ve been involved with everything from early project planning, breaking out sections and prioritizing needs, to asset management, hiring consultants and designing the various sections to reconstruct the Interstate.
The Girard Avenue Interchange (GIR) in Philadelphia is one of those sections. At PennDOT, we selected AECOM legacy company URS to design the GIR section. As a result, I was able to stay involved with GIR during my tenure at AECOM. When questions arise on the I-95 corridor program in the Commonwealth, I’m grateful to offer any insight I can to PennDOT to help them move the program forward after all these years.
I feel truly fortunate to be part of such a great program. It’s massive and diverse — stretching from cornfields in Bucks County to the city of Philadelphia and beyond. The interests and perspectives of the different stakeholders and communities vary greatly. The GIR section of I-95 goes right through the Fishtown and Olde Richmond sections of the City of Philadelphia, so we’ve been able to help right some of the wrongs dating back to the 1950’s and 1960’s when the Interstate was built, particularly those related to the displacement and disruption caused by the original construction. Our archaeological investigations discovered six intact Native American occupations that have been dated to 3563 B.C. We’ve saved and reused building architectural elements from a nineteenth century shipyard. We’re reconnecting communities and bringing back access to the Delaware River waterfront that had been cut off for all these years. Our project team proactively addressed issues like equitable access to green space, multi-modal connections, transit access and green stormwater management. Thinking progressively about these issues helped the project anticipate changing regulations and respond to issues earlier than federally required.
I feel truly fortunate to be part of such a great program. Our archaeological investigations discovered six intact Native American occupations that have been dated to 3563 B.C. We’ve saved and reused building architectural elements from a nineteenth century shipyard. We’re reconnecting communities and bringing back access to the Delaware River waterfront that had been cut off for all these years.”
Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.
The West Dover Connector project in Delaware has helped the community across different modes of traffic and travel. Very rarely in the northeastern U.S. do you get to help build a new roadway on a new alignment, but the Delaware Department of Transportation had a vision for relieving congestion and improving mobility south of Dover that we were able to help them realize.
The connector — a pedestrian and bike-friendly three-mile roadway — incorporated multi-use paths, bike lanes, and new structures over railroads and streams. It connects communities with independent bike paths, the park system, a historic farmstead, and a local Boy Scout camp. In the initial stages of the project, AECOM led numerous community working group meetings and public information centers as part of our transportation planning alternatives analysis and prepared a NEPA Environmental Assessment. Then we provided preliminary and final engineering services, so our work truly spanned the life of the project. It was a well-thought-out project that required us to balance a lot of competing interests, but in the end, it was extremely well received by the community as a tremendous positive for everyone involved.
The West Dover Connector project in Delaware has helped the community across different modes of traffic and travel. The connector — a pedestrian and bike-friendly three-mile roadway — incorporated multi-use paths, bike lanes, and new structures over railroads and streams. It connects communities with independent bike paths, the park system, a historic farmstead, and a local Boy Scout camp.”
Share a piece of career advice.
My boss at PennDOT gave me the best advice for my career: Train your replacement, because if you don’t then you’ll sit there in that same spot for the rest of your career. Another piece of advice I’ll share is stay true to yourself and your own vision. That sense of purpose will keep you going.