Fireworks at the San Pedro Creek Culture Park.
Beautifying San Antonio’s San Pedro Creek: A Conversation With Jeffrey Mitchell of HDR
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Tyler Young: Please tell us about your background and how you became involved with the San Pedro Creek Improvements Project. Jeffrey Mitchell: Interestingly for an article in a municipal water publication, my background is in structural engineering. I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. After that, I went to work for a local engineering and architecture firm in San Antonio, which soon became part of the HDR Engineering, Inc., family, and I practiced structural engineering with a focus on civil works. I primarily worked on water and wastewater infrastructure projects for the first 15 years of my career. I was mostly technically focused on civil and infrastructure projects and worked in several of the HDR offices across the nation. MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HDR.
an Antonio, Texas, is famous for its urban River Walk development along the San Antonio River, which was completed in 2014. A few years ago, local authorities decided to pursue a similar revitalization project for another downtown waterway, the San Pedro Creek. As of 2018, the ambitious San Pedro Creek Improvements Project is only partly complete, but it already includes 4,000 feet of accessible walkways, murals by local artists, benches, and infrastructural components. In this interview with Municipal Water Leader writer Tyler Young, Jeffrey Mitchell, HDR’s senior project manager for the San Pedro Creek Improvements Project, speaks about the genesis of the San Pedro Creek Improvements Project, the special challenges of an urban project of this nature, and how to stay motivated throughout the course of such an extensive project.
