Puget Sound Engineering Council

Tony Allen, P. E.

Washington State Department of Transportation

Tony Allen, P. E., Washington State Department of Transportation, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Government Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his exceptional career as a geotechnical engineer, his development of standards for geosynthetic materials and retaining wall engineered products, and his participation in the development of improved design procedures for addressing stormwater infiltration.

He is an internationally recognized geotechnical engineer with 39 year of experience in the public sector. This experience includes leading the geotechnical engineering program for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for the past 29 years as the State Geotechnical Engineer. He has been a technical policy maker who has significantly influenced both public and private sector geotechnical design and construction practice, both locally and nationally. He led the development of the WSDOT Geotechnical Design Manual that contains engineering design standards and construction specifications. This manual is widely used by local agencies, WSDOT, other state departments of transportation, and the Federal Highway Administration. He has been very active with the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials leading a committee responsible for development of design specifications for bridge wall and foundation design and leading a second committee responsible for development of a testing and evaluation program for geosynthetic reinforcement products.  He developed a research program to analyze the design of reinforced soil structures that use geosynthetic and steel reinforcement. The results were published in a technical paper describing a new, more cost-effective method of designing mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls. His paper won several awards, and the proposed design method has been incorporated into national bridge design specifications.

Susan Chang, Ph. D., P. E.

Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections

Susan Chang, Ph. D., P. E., Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 Government Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of her exceptional career as a geotechnical earthquake engineer, her innovative work in developing design guidelines for considering earthquake ground motions in high-rise buildings, and her leadership in revising the state building code. She possesses a unique combination of technical expertise, team leadership abilities, and communication skills as well as experience in the public sector, private sector, and academia.

Currently serving as the Geotechnical Engineering Group Supervisor for the Department of Construction and Inspections, she oversees geotechnical peer reviews of high-rise building designs. As part of the review process, she noticed that amplification of earthquake ground motions by the Seattle sedimentary basin was not being considered in high-rise building designs. To address the issue, she convened a workshop of engineers and seismologists to develop recommendations for the city. The result was a methodology for incorporating basin response in ground motion estimation. This methodology has been adopted by Seattle and Bellevue, the Washington State Building Code, and the International Building Code. She worked with the Seattle Office of Emergency Management to develop an updated landslide map with digital records of landslides that have occurred within the city since the late 1800s. Access to this historic landslide information benefits engineers, property owners, and the general public.

In addition to her engineering contributions, she recently completed a four-year term as a councilmember for the City of Shoreline. In this role, she has brought her engineering mindset, policy-making expertise, and compassion to city government, enhancing the public’s perception of the role of engineers and women in government

Susan L. Everett, P.E.

Washington State Department of Transportation

Susan L. Everett, P.E., Washington State Department of Transportation, has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Government Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of her exceptional career managing complex construction projects for the department.  Throughout her career, she has led efforts to improve the accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness of the engineering within the department and served as mentor for many of the department’s project engineers.

Currently, she is the project manager for the SR 509 Completion Project that links SR 509 to Interstate 5, provides additional access to Sea-Tac airport, and improves transportation in South King County.  Immediately prior to that position, she served as the Engineering Manager for the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement project, supervising a team focused on design, construction, and safety of the SR 99 tunnel. This tunnel project pushed all known limits of engineering to become the largest soft-ground machine-bored road tunnel in the world.  She joined the project during its development phase and was instrumental in redesigning the alignment of the tunnel to improve sight distances for drivers.  A part of the project was the construction of the SR 99 off-ramp to South Dearborn Street.  This flexible steel and bendable concrete bridge was designed to move with a major earthquake and return to its original position and remain functional.

She piloted the department’s Cost Estimating Validation Process which considers project risk in developing cost estimates.  She identified project risks and then developed cost estimates considering alternative risk impacts and risk probabilities. To improve the department’s value engineering (VE) process, she introduced the split VE process in which the VE team develops initial recommendations and then submits them to the design team for development of 3D modeling, cross sections, and quantities.     

James P. Wilhoit, P. E., City of Renton

2019 Award Recipient

Nominated by the American Society of Civil Engineers

James P. Wilhoit, P.E.
City of Renton

James P. Wilhoit, P.E., has been selected as the recipient of the 2019 Government Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his many contributions in positions of great responsibility with the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps, the Seattle School District, Valley Medical Center, Washington State Department of Transportation, and the City of Renton.

As a commissioned officer in the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, he oversaw construction of shore facilities in Puerto Rico, Japan, and Washington State.  Upon release from the Navy, he served as resident engineer for the construction of two major elementary schools for the Seattle School District.  In 1990, he became the Assistant Director of Plant Engineering for Valley Medical Center and supervised the maintenance and building systems operations workforce.  In 1995, he became the Terminal Design Engineer for Washington State Ferries and managed the design of numerous ferry terminal projects throughout Puget Sound.  In 1999, he became a Transportation Design Project Manager for the City of Renton, responsible for both design and construction of transportation projects for the City.  He continued in this role until he retired in 2017.

Throughout his career with multiple government agencies, he has emphasized safety on construction projects and streamlined contracting procedures.  He developed a reputation for keeping communications flowing to ensure that all stakeholders were informed and work stayed on schedule.  His commitment to open communication also extended to keeping the public informed of project progress and impacts to them. He actively participates in section activities of the American Society of Civil Engineers including mentoring engineering students at Seattle University and the University of Washington.

Jeffery A. Lundt, P.E., Wastewater Treatment Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks

2018 Award Recipient

Jeffery A. Lundt, P.E.
Wastewater Treatment Division of the King Co. Dept. of Natural Resources and Parks

Nominated by the American Society of Civil Engineers

Jeffrey A. Lundt, P.E., Wastewater Treatment Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, has been selected as the recipient of the 2018 Government Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his many contributions to improving the region’s wastewater infrastructure. He is always looking for better way to deliver projects and seeks innovative solutions to design challenges.

He served as the project manager for the Marine Outfall for the Brightwater Treatment Plant Project.  Since this was the first project executed by the Wastewater Treatment Division using a design-build delivery method, there was considerable learning that was needed by the staff.  He was instrumental in structuring the contract terms to be fair to both parties.  The Marine Outfall was completed 22 months early for a total cost of about 75% of the budgeted amount.  Since completion of the project, he has served as a Principal Wastewater Engineer and the Mechanical Engineering Group Lead in the Technical Services Group.  In this role, he is a project engineer for consultant-designed projects and several in-house projects.

He developed variations to the typical procurement criteria for major treatment systems which allow the Division to select a process and manufacturer based on a variety of criteria.  This allows selection of the vendor early in the design process to enable knowledge of support needs and incorporate them in the bid documents.  In a typical procurement process, the general contractor selects the equipment, and the structure often needs modification to enable installation of the selected equipment.

Prior to joining King County, he spent 29 years as an engineering consultant for several firms in the Puget Sound region.

Alan Murray, P.E., Snohomish County

Alan Murray, P.E.
Snohomish County

2017 Award Recipient

Nominated by the American Society of Civil Engineers

Alan Murray, P.E., Snohomish County Department of Planning and Development, has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 Government Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his many contributions to improving the region’s wastewater infrastructure while serving as facility planner and a project administrator for Metro and for his service in the Department of Planning and Development for Snohomish County.

During his work with Metro, he played significant roles in the secondary treatment plant expansions at Renton and West Point, the separation of stormwater from combined sewers to reduce inflow to the West Point wastewater treatment plant, new and upgraded pumping stations, construction of the downtown Seattle bus tunnel, and construction of numerous park-and-ride projects.  He led the team charged with revamping Metro’s consultant procurement process to emphasize qualifications and the participation of minority and women business enterprises.

At Snohomish County, he ensures that project plans meet codes and standards and spends time mentoring consultants regarding improvements to their work products.  He has served on ad-hoc committees charged with reviewing engineering codes and design standards for various county agencies. He has been active in the Seattle Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) since 1973, serving as committee chair, director, and president.  He served on the planning committee for the Section Anniversary Galas in 1988 (75^th) and 2013 (100^th).  He also served as the liaison between the Section and the University of Washington Student Chapter.  He participated in the committee organized to revise ASCE’s Professional Practice Manual Quality in the Constructed Project.

Richard Q. Gilmore, PE Silver Lake Water and Sewer District

2016 Award Recipient

Nominated by the American Society of Civil Engineers

Richard Gilmore

Richard Q. Gilmore, PE, Silver Lake Water and Sewer District, has been selected as the recipient of the 2016 Government Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his many contributions to improving the region’s water and wastewater infrastructure while serving as the Supervisor of Technical Services for the Federal Way Water and Sewer District and later as the District Engineer for the Silver Lake Water and Sewer District. He has been a leader in retrofitting existing facilities to increase capacities and incorporate new technologies for operational and safety enhancements.

He is responsible for reviewing plans for new construction and working with developers to create projects that meet development standards and minimize operational difficulties. Significant projects have been completed to accommodate a doubling of the number of utility system connections including retrofit and increased pump capacity at three major lift stations; the complete stripping, recoating; and structural improvements of a 4.5-million gallon reservoir; and the design and construction of a new 8-million gallon reservoir with a booster station.

He promoted coordination with adjacent water purveyors to establish master meter interties that provide system hydraulic capacity improvements that allow elimination of planned and more expensive cross district transmission mains. He promoted the installation of continuous water quality monitoring on all reservoirs and systems master meters to verify the quality of water delivered to customers. As a result, water quality data is continuously available for operational feedback.

He has been a leader in the adoption of electronic plans of utility systems and major components to provide better base documents for developer engineers. Because operational utility systems are critical in the event of a natural disaster, he has actively participated in the development of the Snohomish County Natural Hazard Mitigation plan.