Colorado Department of Transportation chief engineer joins Beam, Longest and Neff engineering team

Colorado Department of Transportation veteran Tim Harris has joined engineering firm Beam, Longest and Neff (BNL) as Western Region Director. Harris, who most recently served as CDOT's chief engineer, is responsible for short and long-term strategic planning, growth, operations, and overall management of the engineering staff in Colorado.

"Tim brings solid experience and a unique perspective to our firm," says Tom Longest, chief executive of BLN, the full-service engineering firm headquartered in Indianapolis. "We know Tim's work from his tenure at CDOT, and we value his capabilities and oversight skills in transportation maintenance operations, engineering, construction, and consulting."

Throughout his 33-year career at CDOT, Harris focused on supporting the agency's mission to provide the best multi-modal transportation system to effectively move people, goods, and information across the 9,144-mile highway system and 3,419 bridges the department maintains. He served as program engineer for the I-25/I-70 Interchange project and region director in Colorado Springs for the I-25 Interstate Expansion Design-Build Project, and he led the $60 million Viaduct Project in Trinidad.

"My experience with CDOT has provided me with invaluable skills that I will continue to use to expand BLN's work in the transportation and maintenance industries throughout the western region," Harris says. "After working for decades in the public sector, this was the perfect opportunity to transition and utilize my experience."

Following his graduation from Georgia Tech with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, Harris joined CDOT as a roadway designer. Four years later, he transitioned into the contracting office, where he spent 10 years managing construction, design, maintenance, and funding contracts. Harris next moved to CDOT headquarters, where he spent six years in pre-construction management focusing on manuals and specification books. He then became program engineer overseeing design and construction before returning to headquarters as staff services director administering policies and procedures. He then served as region director before being named chief engineer in July 2011.

Founded in 1945, Beam, Longest & Neff has expanded from a traditional civil engineering and surveying firm to one that provides a full complement of in-house engineering and consulting services including environmental engineering, right-of-way engineering, and construction inspection.