Ricardo Gonzalez Brings Three Decades of TxDOT Experience to Freese and Nichols
Ricardo Gonzalez, PE, a transportation specialist with almost three decades of experience, has joined Freese and Nichols as Highway Services Leader after a long career with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
Ricardo will advise and mentor our highway designers throughout Texas, providing guidance on coordination and communication with transportation agencies ranging from cities and counties to TxDOT and regional councils of governments. He also will serve as a technical resource for our staff working on a wide range of projects with state transportation departments across the United States.
Ricardo developed a deep understanding of TxDOT’s operations, having started as a summer intern and working his way up to Director of Transportation Planning and Development. His experience covers the agency’s operations at the district level, project delivery process and funding mechanisms.
He also has expertise in different aspects of highway design and construction and will use this “cradle to grave” knowledge to help our transportation teams deliver on client needs.
His experience covers:
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Asset Management: Having served as a Director of Maintenance, he can guide our teams to deliver more maintenance-focused design that will lower lifecycle costs by minimizing maintenance needs and improve staff safety by reducing time exposed to road traffic.
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Constructability Review: Almost 10 years of inspecting and managing construction projects has helped Ricardo prioritize constructability in design, which helps develop more accurate cost expectations at the outset and reduces costly change orders.
- Right-of-way (ROW) Preservation: Ricardo’s background in county corridor agreements and right-of-way preservation will be especially helpful for high-growth, rural counties where it’s important to identify roadway needs and growth opportunities and preserve ROW.
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Design-Build: Ricardo brings valuable design-build experience, having served as Deputy Project Manager on the $1 billion DFW Connector project, which doubled the size of the highway system around DFW Airport’s north entrance. He provided construction oversight and material validation on this first-ever design-build delivery for TxDOT’s Fort Worth District.
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Funding: From his work on grants and other funding mechanisms, Ricardo will be able to help communities maximize their funding opportunities for essential transportation projects.
“I had the privilege of working closely with Ricardo at TxDOT, and I’m thrilled to have him join Freese and Nichols,” said Jessica Andrews, Freese and Nichols’ Transportation: Highways Practice Leader. “With his diverse technical background, he will strengthen our ability to deliver projects across multiple sectors.”
Alan Greer, Chief Business Development Officer for Infrastructure, said Ricardo’s “decades of expertise will allow us to assist our city and county clients in advancing their projects in partnership with TxDOT.”
Ricardo, who’s based in Fort Worth, received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Texas Tech University and is a licensed Professional Engineer. He received the Dewitt C. Greer Award from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute in 2015 for his outstanding service to the State of Texas in the Texas Department of Transportation.