LAKE OSWEGO, OR A Senior Geotechnical Engineer from the Oregon Department of Transportation, Jan L. Six, joins Shannon & Wilson's Portland, Oregon, area office as a Senior Associate. After 33 years, Six retired in April from ODOT, where he served as the Central Geotechnical Expert for ODOT staff statewide, developing the agency's Geotechnical Design Manual and geotechnical-related construction specifications.

At Shannon & Wilson, Six will parlay his technical expertise and experience on public projects to transportation jobs in Oregon and around the region. He will provide senior review and technical oversight, working with staff to meet the unique requirements of public agencies and training junior engineers.

Six is an Oregon-licensed professional engineer and geotechnical engineer. His impressive ODOT career focused on soil-structure interaction at bridge foundations, seismic retrofits, drilled shafts and driven piles. He led the agency's statewide program to investigate "unknown foundations" of bridges built in the early 1900s and led the development of ODOT's seismic design standards for bridge foundation. Six was also the lead geotechnical engineer for major ODOT projects such as the Sunset Highway, Corvallis Bypass, and I-5 Columbia River Crossing, as well as more than 200 new bridges around the state. He started at ODOT as a roadway engineer in a time when the agency did not use geotechnical engineers to investigate foundations or geologic hazards for roads. He then moved to the bridge unit, working closely with structural engineers.

"Back then, you had a foundation report that was three pages long," he recalled.

As geotechnical engineering became more crucial to transportation designs, especially regarding seismic safety, Six represented ODOT on many oversight and working groups with the Federal Highway Administration and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. He also partnered regularly with the Washington State Department of Transportation.

"Jan has a reputation for solving all kinds of engineering challenges by finding solutions that work for every discipline," said local office manager and Vice President Risheng (Park) Piao. "His overall understanding of transportation design is a huge asset to any project - we are glad to have him on board."