May We Have Your Assistance?
I need to ask you for a favor, but first, let me explain.
In 2023, we are publishing four new sections that will inform, entertain, and build community. That’s my hope, anyway. Without further ado, let’s dive in:.
DOT Corner
This will be a space where any department of transportation can highlight what’s going on in its state. If a state DOT wants to write an op-ed about how road or bridge conditions have improved in its region, we want to collaborate. This section also can be used to explain challenges that a DOT faces or highlight projects in any stage of development.
Our goal is to create a dialogue among the state DOTs, as well as with other members of our industry.
Team Leader
The roads and bridges construction industry is massive, and the people I have met since stepping into this role in September are as fascinating as they are impressive. This section will be a mini-profile of someone in the industry who deserves recognition: an engineer, a bulldozer operator, a contractor, a tech designer, someone in sales or marketing — it can be anyone. We’ll write about them and do a short Q&A, as well.
Project Spotlight
In this section, we want to breakdown projects that are currently in progress. We want to know what went into the design, getting the project off the ground, the challenges that are being overcome, and what the result will be.
Over the next five years, the IIJA is going to create more projects than we’ve seen in our lifetimes. We want to try to keep track of them all and highlight the ones that can teach us something.
Tailgate Stories
These will be “as told by” essays. When you’re on a jobsite and it’s lunchtime, or at the end of the day before you leave, stories often get told standing around the tailgate of a truck. Stories about tough jobs that pushed you and taught you, funny moments where everyone on the crew laughed, scary jobs where safety protocols saved lives.
It’s time to start sharing these stories. The clean versions, anyway! We can learn, we can laugh, and most importantly, we can celebrate the shared experiences from this incredible industry.
Now, here’s where you come in: to make these sections work, we need volunteers. If you’re interested, email me here: [email protected]. Put the section in which you want to participate as the subject line, and let’s tell some stories together. R&B
About the Author
Gavin Jenkins, Head of Content
Head of Content
Gavin Jenkins is an award-winning journalist based in Pittsburgh. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, VICE, Narrative.ly, Prevention, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Beijing Review.
In 2020, two stories he wrote for Pitt Med Magazine earned three Golden Quill Awards from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania. “Surviving Survival” won Excellence in Corporate, Marketing and Promotional Communications – Written, Medical/Health, while “Oct. 27, 2018: Pittsburgh’s Darkest Day, and the Mass Casualty Response” won Excellence in Written Journalism, Magazines – Medical/Health, as well as the Ray Sprigle Memorial Award: Magazines, a Best in Show award.
After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 2003, he covered sports for the Bedford Gazette, in Bedford, Pa., and the Martinsville Bulletin, in Martinsville, Va. In 2006, he returned to Pittsburgh to write for Trib Total Media. Based out of the Kittanning Leader Times, he worked for the Trib for two years, and then he moved to Shenzhen, China, to teach English and freelance. After two years in China, he earned an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Pittsburgh.
When he's not at work, he's usually playing with his border-collie mix, Bob.