MEET YOUR TEAM
City’s New Public Works Director Helped Design I-395 Signature Bridge By Paul Scicchitano
Joe Gomez Miami Beach Public Works Director
For Miami Beach Public Works Director Jose “Joe” Gomez, P.E., one of the best perks of his new job is his daily commute alongside the future I-395 signature bridge, which he helped design.
“I was the project manager for the firm that developed the design criteria for that project,” Gomez told MB. “I spent five years of my career working on just getting that project off the ground.” When the $818 million project is completed in the fall of 2024, it will provide additional capacity on I-395 with a total of three lanes in each direction and separate connector ramps for traffic to and from I-95. With its six sweeping arches, the 1,025-foot span will become a focal point of the Miami skyline as it connects to the MacArthur Causeway Bridge into Miami Beach. “I drive through it almost every day coming to the beach,” said Gomez, a civil engineer with more than 40 years of experience in transportation, water and sewer infrastructure, planning and design as well as construction management. Prior to stepping into his new position with the city in August, Gomez served in various public and private roles, most notably as director of operations for the Florida Department of Transportation District Six where he was responsible for a staff of more than 600 and construction contracts totaling $250 million. The city’s Public Works director is responsible for defining and implementing the future vision and important infrastructure priorities. Gomez oversees multiple functional areas, including Utilities, Infrastructure, Sanitation and Streets & Green Space. He believes the signature bridge project will improve traffic between the cities of Miami and Miami Beach when it is finished.
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MB magazine | Summer 2022
“It will improve the operations of that interchange and how traffic flows through the Midtown Interchange because it will all be direct connections and a lot more logical than what currently exists out there today,” he said. “It’s also going to be beautiful because it’s going to have a signature bridge and create a linear park underneath I-395. It’s going to be great for the community around it.” District Six includes Miami-Dade and Monroe counties in South Florida. Serving some 2.5 million people, the district’s roads are traveled more than 30.8 million miles daily by motorists. “The experience I received at FDOT was invaluable and I think it really helped me prepare to be able to step into my new role from day one and hit the ground running,” Gomez said. In Miami Beach, Gomez leads the development of the city’s many infrastructure projects to protect residents against the threat of sea level rise as he also oversees various projects to upgrade the city’s aging network of pipes. Though he has worked on many projects around the Miami Beach area, he can’t wait to see the bridge open. “Just to see it now being built, this is an incredible achievement,” he explained. “It’s a matter of personal satisfaction.” Gomez recently sat down with MB for a wide-ranging interview: Q: What best prepared you in your past for your current role? A: The 10 1/2 years that I spent at FDOT in District Six really gave me the foundation to understand the differences between working in the private sector and public service. In the latter instance, you’re still working on engineering projects, but here you’re not working for profit, you’re working for the greater good.
