APTech is Excited to Welcome S. Drake Builta to the Team!

A view of the Pennybacker Bridge near Austin, Texas

APTech is thrilled to announce the addition of Drake Builta, P.E., to our transportation asset management team. Prior to joining the firm, Drake worked for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), where he served as the lead engineer for several bridge management initiatives and contributed to the establishment of TxDOT’s bridge management system, the agency’s Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP), and the strategic rollout of risk-based bridge inspection intervals.

Drake brings over 7 years of experience in the areas of bridge management, bridge inspection, structural design, risk management, statistical analysis, and data workflow automation for structural applications. His technical efforts focus on supporting state and national agencies to make data-informed decisions when managing bridges, tunnels, and ancillary assets.

“Drake is a fantastic addition to our ever-growing transportation asset management team and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our program area,” said Brad Allen, P.E., Senior Engineer who leads APTech’s work in asset management. “We were very excited to get him into our group and we can’t wait to see how he continues to grow in his new role with our company.”

As a registered professional engineer in Texas, Drake earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Career highlights include:

  • Lead Engineer for administering Texas’ bridge inventory. Led efforts in data quality and availability, submitted data to the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) annually, developed summary reports, and provided policy recommendations on bridge performance measures.

  • Lead Engineer for procuring, configuring, and administering TxDOT’s AASHTOWare Bridge Management (BrM) environment.

  • Lead Engineering Analyst for developing and implementing TxDOT’s risk-based Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) for bridges and structural assets. Performed analytics in the areas of descriptive statistics, performance management, performance forecasting, life-cycle planning, and data visualization.

  • Lead Engineer for TxDOT’s risk-based inspection intervals project. Led analytic efforts categorizing bridges by risk level and quantified risk from extending inspection intervals beyond 24 months.

  • Project Lead for the automated collection of vertical clearance measurements at 10,000 grade separation locations. Developed and enforced data standards for GIS and LiDAR deliverables.

  • Advisor and Administrator for TxDOT’s Bridge Incident Suite, a collection of GIS applications developed through ESRI’s System of Engagement project with TxDOT.

  • Lead Engineer for developing TxDOT’s Oversize/Overweight Legislation Analysis System. Estimated the consumption costs and direct maintenance costs to TxDOT from increased legal truck loads.

  • Task Lead for implementation of an advanced warning system for seismic events in Texas. Implemented results of TxDOT research projects 0-6916, “Seismic Vulnerability and Post-Event Actions” and 5-6916-01, “Implementation of TxDOT Seismic Vulnerability and Post-Event Actions.”

  • Lead Project Advisor for TxDOT research project 0-6979, “Developing Deterioration Rates of Texas Bridges Using NBI Data.”

  • President of the AASHTOWare Bridge Management (BrM) User Group (2017-2018).

  • Panel Member for the NCHRP Synthesis 20-05/Topic 52-02 project, “Bridge Element Data and Use.”

To learn more about APTech’s expertise, browse our Transportation Asset Management services or read about how we helped the Nevada DOT develop their TAMP.

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