Top 40 Under 40 2014: Justin S. Wheeler, P.E.

Sept. 22, 2014
Justin S. Wheeler, P.E., Southern California Business Class Area Manager – Rail/Transit, HDR

Since joining HDR in 2002, Justin Wheeler has managed multi-disciplinary teams of experts in the design of complex rail and transit projects for multiple clients throughout the Southwest. He has earned his professional engineering license in four states: California, Arizona, Utah and Hawaii.

He has applied his knowledge as a professional engineer while managing and assisting multiple passenger rail projects in all major modes locally and regionally. Notable projects include the Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail in Southern California, West Valley Light Rail Transit in Utah, and Sugar House Streetcar in Utah. Through his success on projects ranging from early planning and studies, through final design and construction phases, he has demonstrated versatility and a complex understanding of the industry as a whole.

As a project manager, Wheeler has spearheaded technical innovations and led large and diverse teams of engineers and support staff for several of HDR’s most complex rail projects, including the Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail Project and the Raymer to Bernson Double Track Project. Since 2009, he has served as the client manager for an on-call engineering services contract with Metrolink and has managed a total of $16 million in contract task orders, including scheduled improvements to the Antelope Valley Line and Los Angeles Union Station.

Wheeler was nominated by senior leadership in 2011 for HDR’s Career Skills Program — an internal leadership and management training — and became a Dale Carnegie graduate. With a firm of more than 8,500 employees, it is a great honor to be selected as one of the few to attend this training. In 2012, he was selected as a senior officer within HDR (surpassing multiple levels and landing directly at the associate vice president level). He has received nine internal awards, including awards for external client service, leadership, process improvement, productivity and performance and multiple project team awards.

His experience not only spans different rail modes, but also project delivery methods. He understands the traditional design-bid-build delivery while also being involved in multiple design-build projects along with public-private-partnerships. Wheeler was the track segment lead for the Regional Transit District’s Fastrack Project in Denver, also known as the Eagle P3 Project.

Additionally, he has been involved as a program manager on one of the nation’s most successful New Starts projects with Valley Metro in Phoenix. He was part of the program management team that spearheaded the implementation of the Valley Metro Light Rail Project, which has broken every ridership forecast statistic while also resulting in more than $2 billion of private development.

Wheeler’s vast experience across various states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah and Washington), delivery methods and transit modes has positioned Justin as a trusted adviser with top tier transit agencies across the nation.

“I developed a strong interest in rail transit engineering while traveling extensively in Europe and seeing firsthand how well designed systems are embraced by the communities they serve. It’s exciting playing a role in the rail renaissance in the United States and leveraging my past experiences in Europe to benefit my local community. We have an opportunity in the United States to really transform communities and influence more sustainable land uses through the careful planning and design of rail transit systems.”