This fall has brought many exciting changes to Civiltech. We are happy to celebrate three staff members and their accomplishments!
Mike Folkening, P.E., PTOE has been named Director of Urban Design & Traffic, a new service department at Civiltech. Mike has been with Civiltech for over 20 years, previously serving as Director of Chicago Office. Mike specializes in Phase I and Phase II urban roadway and streetscape improvements with high level pedestrian, bicycle, and transit accommodations. His passion for Complete Streets design will provide vision for our new Urban Design & Traffic department.
Joel Christell, P.E. has been named Director of Environmental & Design Studies. Joel has been employed at Civiltech for over 20 years, the last 15 managing projects including intersection improvements, roadway and pedestrian bridge projects, pedestrian and bicycle projects, and corridor projects. Joel has completed over 30 Federal-aid projects for municipalities and has helped secure over $35 million dollars of grants for municipalities in the Chicago Region. Joel will oversee Phase I roadway design services for our suburban clients.
Chris Wolff, P.E. has been named Director of Chicago Office. Chris has been with Civiltech for over 18 years. He specializes in Phase I and Phase II roadway design services, including geometrics, pedestrian facility design, and ADA compliant urban roadway grading. Chris has been a leader in CDOT’s Citywide Construction Engineering program. Chris will oversee the engineering staff that works in our Chicago office and specializes in City of Chicago projects.
Mike, Joel, and Chris’s promotions were part of an exciting restructuring within the firm. As noted above, Civiltech has launched a new service department, Urban Design & Traffic. This dynamic new department combines our transportation planning team, traffic engineers, and landscape architecture group under one umbrella as we continue to expand our urban design and planning project portfolio.
The purpose of our urban design group is to make streets and public spaces functional and attractive while designing for safe and inviting pedestrian environments. Our urban design group also ensures that our designs are visually pleasing and relatable to the end user, creating community identities, enhancing livability, and bolstering commercial appeal. This team is passionate about approaching every project with a Complete Streets design approach ensuring that all modes of transportation are addressed, including pedestrian, bike, and transit, while respecting vehicular mobility.
Traffic engineering will also work within this new department. Each project begins with an assessment of existing conditions to identify traffic safety and operational improvement needs. Alternative measures are then developed to respond to those needs and the performance of each is tested and evaluated using sophisticated traffic engineering tools. The culmination of these traffic engineering analyses assists in the development of a Complete Streets improvement plan which balances the competing needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, and autos in complex urban environments.
Civiltech is thrilled to offer our clients the unique, visionary, and cutting edge services offered by our new Urban Design & Traffic Department. We believe that this department working in close collaboration with our other outstanding transportation engineering departments creates a synergy resulting in successful project outcomes that will have a meaningful and positive impact on communities.