Articles

November 2026 UESI Track

UTILITY ENGINEERING & SURVEYING INSTITUTE (UESI) TRACK

TRADITIONAL DESIGN AND COORDINATION VS. DIGITAL DESIGN AND COORDINATION

Jeffrey Hunter, PE
Utility Design Coordinator
Solaray Engineering

Mr. Jeffrey Hunter is a licensed professional engineer with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University, experienced in utility relocation and project management for major highway construction projects, including overseeing easement acquisition, utility conflict analysis, and coordination of multi-stakeholder teams, with a track record of managing extensive utility relocations to meet compliance and project timelines. He has worked as a utility design coordinator on some of the largest transportation projects in Texas, such as Midtown Express (SH183/SH114), DFW Connector (Connect 4, SH121), I35 NEX (I35/I410), and Southeast Connector (I820/I20/US287). In his free time he likes to travel, play video games, and go on long runs.

Andrew Ludwig, PE
Utility Design and Coordination Engineer 
Solaray Engineering

Mr. Ludwig earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a utility design and coordination engineer at Solaray Engineering with over six years of experience supporting major TxDOT and municipal infrastructure projects involving roadway, rail, and urban redevelopment. He has managed several SUE projects, performed utility conflict analysis, and designed utilities using 3D utility models. Throughout his career, Andrew has collaborated with multidisciplinary design teams, including IH 30, the DART Silver Line (Cotton Belt), Southeast Connector, Dallas Love Field Airport, and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Outside of engineering, Andrew has been happily married for 14 years and enjoys teaching Tae Kwon Do twice a week, where he shares his passion for martial arts and mentoring others.

BEYOND AVERAGE: AI ASSISTED STATISTICAL MODELING FOR UTILITY DEPTH DISCREPANCY ANALYSIS

Xi Xie, PhD, PE
Senior Utility Coordinator 
Lina T. Ramey & Associates (LTRA)

Mr. Xie is a Senior Utility Coordinator at Lina T. Ramey & Associates (LTRA) and a Texas-licensed Professional Engineer with nearly seven years of experience in subsurface utility engineering, utility conflict analysis, and coordination for major transportation projects. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from Louisiana Tech University. His work combines utility engineering with statistical modeling, machine learning, and engineering automation to improve project efficiency and reduce uncertainty. He has co-authored three ASCE Pipelines conference papers, with recent research focusing on utility depth measurement discrepancies and uncertainty-aware prediction models.

Joseph Murphy, PE
Senior Utility Coordinator 
Lina T. Ramey & Associates (LTRA)

Mr. Murphy, P.E., is the Senior Vice President of Utilities at LTRA.  He has over 30 years of field and project management experience in the utility industry, including projects for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, school districts, and over 200 TxDOT projects ranging in size up to $1.3 billion in construction costs.  He is a past president of the Texas and Dallas chapters of UESI.

UTILITY MAPPING USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Jon King, PE
Project Manager
VRX

Mr. Jon King is a licensed professional engineer with an extensive background in project management of transportation and civil engineering design projects. He has the proven ability to carry out all aspects of engineering design project management, including planning, analysis, geometric design, plan production, management of budgets, tracking of schedules, communication with clients, marketing, business development, and presenting to various audiences. Mr. King serves as a SME on utility engineering, utility coordination, and utility construction management and verification. Throughout his 27+ years of experience, Mr. King has consistently completed projects on time and within budget.

Nissa Guerra, PE
National Account Executive
4M Analytics