Sara Irick, PE, PMP, a Senior Project Manager for Grant Integrative Facilities Management (Grant,) was recognized as an Association for Commuter Transportation’s (ACT) 40 Under 40 TDM Professional during the organization’s annual TDM Forum. Irick, a Cherry Hill resident, was acknowledged for her transformative work on Lehigh University’s campus.
“The importance of this recognition is proof of what our firm knows as a fact — that Sara is a true superstar who our clients consistently rave about,” said Jim Grant, owner and founder of Grant, a family-owned business with offices in Haddonfield and Turnersville with more than 20 years of experience serving New Jersey clients. “She is dedicated and driven. Her versatility provides clients with solutions to issues immediately. She also remains on the cutting edge of technological and industry best management practices. Most importantly, Sara understands client care is paramount. Sara’s relationships with her clients is second to none.”
Celebrating the accomplishments of a tremendous group of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) professionals and industry leaders at its annual Forum, the awardees represent a diverse cross-section of the industry, including private sector employers, city and state governments, service providers, consultants and nonprofits committed to solving the transportation and mobility challenges facing their communities and organizations.
“During a year that has introduced unprecedented challenges to the industry, it’s a pleasure to look to the future of TDM with this impressive group of leaders addressing transportation and mobility. The work they do makes a very real difference in the quality of life for commuters, and their creative solutions are improving the sustainability of their communities,” said ACT Executive Director David Straus.
Irick has 15 years of diverse engineering and project management experience, with a focus on commuter transportation projects from planning to implementation and execution. She also has extensive experience with construction management and ancillary services, such as scheduling, estimating, constructability, and risk management. Her expertise includes ADA requirements, grant preparation and execution and extensive experience conducting internal third-party seminars, interacting with stakeholders, and quality assurance/quality control.
Most recently, Irick served Lehigh University, which when she started, was developing a new master plan, having identified several high-priority projects. Lehigh, however, needed assistance in planning, zoning and project management, which Irick provided. Irick served as Owner’s Representative during the construction of a 428-bed dormitory where her input proved crucial as she identified several commuter-impacting deficiencies. For instance, the University sited multiple phases of construction on parking lots. With the removal of these parking lots, Lehigh would need to restructure its parking system, while ensuring it could still provide adequate parking for a community of 10,000 faculty, staff, and students. Irick led the parking system overhaul conducting research, extensive data collection and analysis, public surveys, community outreach and more than 200 information sessions with Lehigh’s community to develop the plan known as “Connections.”
“Connections” is a multi-modal transportation, parking, gateway, pedestrian, commuter, university transit, bicycle, public-transit, and human-resource policy plan. “Connections” (http://www.lehigh.edu/connections) identified numerous areas of improvement that could assist the University reduce its commuter impact on parking and improve its transportation programs. The program development and project identification became Irick’s responsibility to track, manage, and implement.
She was successful in implementing a completely rebuilt parking management and permitting program and an expanded Transit System with intelligent, real-time bus tracking systems, among other projects, such as grant-based projects that improved both university and city assets.
