People Spotlight: Meet Mike Wongkaew
Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week, we are highlighting the leader of our Americas Tunneling practice and providing an insight into his inspiration and work.
Mike Wongkaew, PhD, PE, SE, PMP, leads AECOM’s Americas Tunneling practice, where he specializes in solving some of the most complex underground infrastructure challenges in the industry. With more than 200 miles of tunneling experience, he brings deep technical expertise and a passion for advancing safe, resilient, and cost‑effective solutions for transportation and water infrastructure.
Mike’s approach blends AECOM’s global scale with specialized local knowledge, enabling teams to navigate the constraints of dense urban environments and demanding geological conditions. Beyond delivering major projects, he is committed to mentoring emerging engineers and strengthening the next generation of tunneling professionals.
Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry.
As cities grow and space becomes increasingly limited, the underground has become one of the last frontiers for expanding critical infrastructure. That challenge — finding new ways to support communities when traditional solutions no longer fit — is what drew me to tunneling and underground engineering.
The multidisciplinary nature of this work keeps me energized. Every project requires balancing structural, geotechnical, constructability, and cost considerations with the needs of the systems and people who will ultimately use these spaces. The dynamic conditions, the risks and the problem‑solving required for underground infrastructure make this field both demanding and deeply rewarding.
What excites me most is that these projects demand true specialization. They allow us to help clients and communities address unique, high‑stakes challenges — and that sense of purpose is what inspired me to build my career in this space.
The multidisciplinary nature of the tunnel practice keeps me motivated — every tunnel requires us to think holistically about what we’re building and who it will serve.
What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?
Some of the most meaningful moments in my AECOM career have come from helping us secure work by showcasing the strength of our technical bench. Demonstrating our expertise — and preparing our teams to deliver on it — has been essential to earning client trust and winning major pursuits.
One example is our work for Caltrans on the Caldecott Tunnel and the Posey and Webster Tunnels in Oakland, California. These long‑serving facilities required upgrades to meet modern Fire and Life Safety requirements. To position AECOM for success, I helped assemble a multidisciplinary team, coordinated the proposal effort, and ensured everyone understood the technical requirements and felt confident about the technical approach. Because some team members were newer to tunneling or Fire and Life Safety systems, I developed an internal session to cross-train the team. Our preparation paid off, resulting in professional services contract award enabling us to help Caltrans significantly enhance safety across these vital transportation corridors.
Another project that stands out is the Newtown Creek Combined Sewer Overflow Tunnel and Pump Station for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. During storms, the existing system could not convey all flows to the treatment plant, leading to overflows that pollute local waterways. We proposed construction management solutions to oversee the project implementation that will capture and reroute these flows and support the city’s environmental commitments.
I focused on building the right internal team and identifying external partners to ensure we had the depth and capacity required. I even walked the 3.5-mile alignment myself one weekend to better understand the site conditions, constructability, and challenges of working in such a dense urban environment. That hands‑on understanding helped us develop a strong proposal and implementation plan — ultimately leading to our selection.
I take pride in championing AECOM’s technical strengths — they are often the key to earning client trust and delivering impactful solutions.
Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.
Many of our tunneling and underground projects directly address community needs — whether by improving safety, modernizing aging infrastructure, or mitigating environmental impacts. Two recent efforts in Austin, Texas, and the Bronx in New York City illustrate how engineering solutions can help reconnect neighborhoods divided by historic infrastructure decisions.
In Austin, elevated and at‑grade freeway structures built decades ago created noise, pollution, and a physical barrier between communities. The Texas Department of Transportation is now modernizing the corridor by lowering the freeway into a trench and installing a lid at select locations to reconnect neighborhoods and reduce environmental impacts. One major challenge was stormwater management. Our solution was to design a drainage tunnel beneath the depressed freeway to intercept flows and convey them to the river, preventing flooding and enabling the broader modernization effort. Our team secured the construction management work for these tunnel components, helping advance the vision of a reconnected Austin.
A similar challenge exists in the Bronx, where an expressway running below grade has long divided adjacent communities. The New York State Department of Transportation aims to restore connectivity by installing freeway lids — a solution that introduces complex engineering considerations around drainage, ventilation, and Fire and Life Safety. Drawing on AECOM’s expertise in tunnel ventilation and structural systems, we assembled a dedicated team that will help the client develop solutions that support the project goals while ensuring the safety of motorists traveling beneath the lids.
By applying our expertise in tunnel engineering and adjacent disciplines, we help clients reconnect communities without compromising safety or performance.
Share a piece of career advice.
There are many paths to success at AECOM, and one of the greatest advantages we have is the freedom to explore diverse opportunities. My advice is to stay open to new experiences and stretched assignments — even those that may not seem connected at first.
In my own career, I have found that every project, role and challenge contributes to our growth. Those experiences shape the value each of us brings to clients, colleagues and the company. Raise your hand, embrace new opportunities, and treat each one as an opportunity to grow and learn something that will serve you and — others — later.
