Patrick R. Gallagher

About Patrick R. Gallagher

I\'m a bridge designer by nature, and this role at WSP has brought me back to bridge design from project management and business development roles. And I\'m designing complex and exciting structures!I\'m currently working on three bridges of the 14 bridges within the proposed I-26 interchange north of Asheville, North Carolina. This is the largest single Design-Build contract the NCDOT has awarded. The bridges have up to 19 spans and are up to 90 feet tall! I\'m also working on a pilot project for the NCDOT, their Timber Bridge program. I designed four timber bridges in Polk County, NC in response to Hurricane Helene in 2024. Timber bridges are sort of a rebirth of older bridge designs, with timber decks and rails and rolled steel beams, with some modern enhancements. And there\'s many other bridge designs I\'m working on in humble places serving rural communities.In the past, I was contracted by the Precast Concrete Institute as their regional Bridge Consultant, working with three nearby DOT’s to help educate engineers and develop design policy and standard plans for precast members. I\'ve aided in the authorship of design policy for Washington State, and specialized in the design of sign structures, Accelerated Bridge Construction, and load rated long span steel trusses. I\'ve also authored two articles in ASPIRE - The Concrete Bridge Magazine and written technical elements of proposal documents.I’ve delivered presentations of my designs at 11 national bridge engineering conferences and many more regionally.I have designed dozens of steel buildings and hundreds of homes, residential structures, and small commercial buildings. Most of that work was done while moonlighting, running my own business, and some between bridge design projects. During the COVID years, I focused on bridge condition inspections for the NCDOT, something I also performed for WSDOT in 2005. I was a lead inspector, scheduling inspection teams, planning inspections for small and large bridges, and coordinating resources such as snooper trucks, traffic control, and safety boats.I have spent much of the last 10 years managing my own design and inspection projects, mentoring younger engineers, writing various portions of proposals, and taking on new challenges as my career develops. I was fortunate to have great mentors in my early years as an engineer, and I seek opportunities to pass those skills along to the next generation.

Experience

1. Assistant Vice President, Structural Engineering

   WSP

   Mar 2025 — Present

Education

• Washington State University

  Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

  1997 — 1999

• Green River College

  Pre-Professional Associates of Arts in Engineering, General Engineering

  1994 — 1996

Skills

• Civil Engineering
• Concrete
• Construction
• Structural Engineering
• Bridge
• Highways
• Public Speaking
• Steel Structures
• Road
• Retaining Walls
• Wood Design
• Drainage
• Transportation Engineering
• Engineering
• Autocad
• Structural Analysis
• Construction Management
• Structures