Harkers Island Bridge Replacement
Presenters
The Harkers Island Bridge Replacement project will be presented jointly by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, NC State University and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure:
Joey Hopkins, PE
In October 2023, Joey Hopkins became the secretary of the N.C. Department of Transportation. As transportation secretary, Hopkins manages one of the largest state-maintained highway systems in the nation, and all modes of transportation, including aviation, ferries, rail, public transit and bicycle and pedestrian transportation, as well as the Office of Civil Rights and Division of Motor Vehicles.
Hopkins is a registered professional engineer and has worked at NCDOT for more than 30 years in a variety of roles. Before being named secretary, Hopkins served as NCDOT’s chief operating officer. He has also served as deputy chief engineer and has held the roles of division engineer, deputy division engineer, division maintenance engineer and division operations engineer in Division 5.
He was a member of NCDOT’s Transformation Management Team and was instrumental in developing the Strategic Prioritization Process, the forerunner of the Strategic Mobility Formula. This data driven process is used to help prioritize transportation projects in North Carolina. The Strategic Transportation Investments Law passed in 2013 allows NCDOT to use existing funding more efficiently and effectively to enhance North Carolina’s infrastructure, while supporting economic growth, job creation and improved quality of life.
Trey Carroll, PE
Trey Carroll serves as the Assistant State Structures Engineer within the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Structures Management Unit (SMU), overseeing Program Management and Field Operations. With 13 years of dedicated service in SMU, Trey has held several key positions. A registered Professional Engineer in North Carolina, he holds both a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University. Notably, he served as the structural design lead for the Harkers Island Bridge replacement project.
Rudolf (Rudi) Seracino, PhD, F.ACI, F.IIFC, M.ASCE
Dr Rudi Seracino is the Paul and Dora Zia Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State University. He earned his B.A.Sc. (Hons) and M.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada, and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Adelaide, Australia. His primary research interest over the past 25 years is related to the use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in critical civil infrastructure. He serves as Director of the Constructed Facilities Laboratory, and is the Site Director of the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Integration of Composites into Infrastructure (CICI). He is an elected Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC). He is on the editorial board of the ASCE Journal of Composites for Construction, and is a voting member of ACI Committee 440 on FRP Reinforcement and the PCI FRP Committee. Dr Seracino currently serves as the lead auditor of the FRP Institute.
Peter D. Distefano
Pete Distefano serves as Operations Manager with Balfour Beatty Infrastructure. He graduated with Bachelor's Degree in Construction Management from Central Connecticut State University before joining Balfour Beatty in 2005. During his 20-year tenure with Balfour Beatty, Pete worked on and managed a multitude of projects including the Alfred Cunningham Draw Bridge, the Western Parkway Project, the Maysville Bypass and I-295 Outer Loop project among many others, before working on the Harkers Island bridge project. Pete is married to his wife Whitney, and they have two children Stella (12) and Julian (9). In his free time, Pete enjoys playing music, playing club soccer along with many outdoor activities including surfing, snowboarding and traveling to visit different places and cultures