Ernesto Jaimes-Aguilar perfectly exemplifies that passion in his role as project safety supervisor at the new Lady Bird Lake project in Austin, Texas. For Ernesto, our Zero Harm culture isn’t just about traffic cones and neon vests—it’s about living out his purpose.

“I think my purpose is helping other people, and making sure everyone gets home safely is the way I do that,” Ernesto says. “I get to help the workers, but I also help their families and friends, as well as the company.”

The Lady Bird Lake project is still in early stages but will ultimately include rebuilding a 2.5-mile section of Interstate 35 (I-35) on the south side of downtown Austin. As he works to build a safety culture on this new venture, Ernesto is prioritizing training, communication and strong relationships to set the foundation for a safe and successful project.

Safe Beginnings

Preparing a project like Lady Bird Lake is a complicated process, with safety being considered every step of the way. Many teammates and partners on the project are transferring from Oak Hill Parkway, another major infrastructure project located in the Austin area.

Despite having worked with these individuals before, Ernesto is far from complacent. Training has been top of mind for him since breaking ground on the project, ensuring that everyone who steps onto the jobsite is making safety their number one priority.

“Training is a non-negotiable, whether a teammate is fresh off another one of our projects or not,” he explains. “We want to make sure that our Zero Harm culture, our procedures and our jobsite rules are fresh in their minds.”

This training also serves another purpose: allowing Ernesto to spend time with each and every member of the team. Though he has an established rapport with many from working on the Oak Hill Parkway project, strengthening those relationships is extremely important to Ernesto in establishing a culture of safety.

“Building a friendship as well as a working relationship establishes a level of trust,” he explains. “Everyone knows they can come to me with concerns or ideas and trust that I will provide for them and make sure they have everything they need to get the job done safely.”

Safey Amid High Traffic

Another consideration of getting the Lady Bird Lake project up and running is the proximity to live traffic. Earlier this year, Balfour Beatty announced a groundbreaking safety initiative expanding OSHA’s long-established Fatal Four to include the fifth fatal risk of Live Traffic. The Federal Highway Administration estimates there are more than 100,000 vehicle crashes in work zones each year, making vehicle traffic a significant threat, especially on a project like Lady Bird Lake.

The jobsite is located in the heart of downtown Austin, along the Colorado River just south of the Texas state capital. An estimated 200,000 drivers use this segment of I-35 daily, and Ernesto is committed to getting every one of them through the jobsite without incident.

“Working in live traffic is one of the most dangerous jobs there is,” he says. “There are all types of drivers out there—some are distracted, others are speeding, others may just be confused because of a traffic switch. It’s vital that we have every precaution in place on our jobsite to get everyone home safely.”

One such precaution includes small, portable lights on workers’ personal protective equipment (PPE). These lights, manufactured by Guardian Angel, are equipped with high-powered LEDs on all sides, enabling drivers to see workers from as far away as five miles. Innovative technologies like these are growing more common on jobsites across the U.S., and making great strides in safety.  

In addition to outfitting crews beyond the standard PPE, Ernesto also trains every member of the team to always remain alert on the jobsite.

“We prepare our jobsite and our crews as much as we possibly can, but we also have to be prepared for the unexpected,” Ernesto explains. “The training we provide is crucial, as well as the relationships we’ve built, which remind us to look out for each other.”

Breaking Down Communication Barriers

These strong relationships keep the lines of communication open, something that is vitally important to maintain a safe jobsite according to Ernesto.

“There’s the saying that you’re either falling together, or you’re falling apart,” he says. “When teams don’t communicate, they won’t be on the same page about the operations of the day, and something could get missed or overlooked. That’s how things fall apart.”

Maintaining communication isn’t always as simple as making sure teams are speaking to each other. There are logistical barriers that Ernesto is passionate about overcoming.

One such barrier is that of language. Ernesto is fluent in both English and Spanish, allowing for better communication with many members of the team.

“For many of our teammates, English is not their first language. Communicating exclusively in English can lead to misunderstandings on the jobsite,” he says. “When any member of our team doesn’t understand exactly what’s being asked of them, that presents a safety concern.”

There are also logistical barriers to communication due to the nature of jobsites. A member of the night crew at Lady Bird Lake identified one such barrier: noise.

The team working overnight on the project is often operating alongside trucks that are bringing in or hauling off materials. These trucks make it difficult for members of the team to get each other’s attention, forcing them to shout at each other in a way that was often ineffective. The crew approached Ernesto with an easy solution.

“They suggested outfitting the crew with air horns to make it easy to get each other’s attention,” he says. “It’s a simple, inexpensive solution that will make their jobs safer and easier and I’m grateful that my teammates trust me enough to come to me with feedback, especially when it makes the jobsite safer for everyone.”

Called to Safety

As Lady Bird Lake continues to take shape in the heart of Austin, Ernesto’s approach to Zero Harm serves as a powerful reminder that protecting our teammates goes beyond compliance and checklists. By prioritizing meaningful connections, fostering open communication and remaining receptive to his team’s innovative safety solutions, Ernesto has established a culture where everyone feels valued, heard and empowered to speak up.

In an industry where the stakes are literally life and death, Ernesto’s dedication stands as an example of how genuine care for people transforms safety from a responsibility into a calling.

Balfour Beatty’s industry-leading commitment to safety was the primary factor that drew Alex to pursue a career with Balfour Beatty. Before joining our team, he worked for a safety consulting firm, but Balfour Beatty’s steadfast dedication to Zero Harm stood out from the pack and led him to join the business in 2017.

Today, Alex travels throughout the Southeast conducting safety audits, offering safety management guidance and providing ongoing training for our teammates and trade partners. Whether he is at our Harkers Island Bridge Replacement project in Harkers Island, North Carolina, the Effingham Parkway project in Rincon, Georgia, or any of the large-scale infrastructure projects on which he oversees safety, Alex can always be found with his sleeves rolled up, working tirelessly to ensure our teams and surrounding communities stay safe.

On any given day, Alex is responsible for managing safety across 10 or more jobsites in multiple states. Unlike a high-rise development in which workers remain within a relatively small geographic radius, crews on civil infrastructure projects are often spread out across many miles. This might make the task of managing safety daunting to some, but Alex has honed his training and audit practices to ensure no safety issue is overlooked. Many of Balfour Beatty’s safety requirements exceed those of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), and Alex believes in his teammates’ leadership to maintain safe jobsites.

“Safety is more than just an aspect of what we do, it’s deeply woven into the culture at Balfour Beatty,” says Alex. “When it comes to keeping our jobsites safe, the key is teamwork. Just as it takes a team to complete a construction project, it takes a team to make sure each and every person on our jobsite and in the surrounding community stays safe.”

Alex is a firm believer that communication is the foundation to safety. Although Alex regularly visits the jobsites he manages, he can’t be everywhere at once. Because of this, he relies heavily on personal touchpoints with his teammates. Alex ensures that everyone on-site is empowered to contact him with questions or concerns but also trusts project engineers, project managers, superintendents and forepeople to effectively monitor safety.

While it is easy to get caught up in the minutiae of day-to-day operations, Alex encourages his teammates to regularly step back and look at the bigger picture of safety. Through a three-question call-and-response at the beginning of every meeting, Alex helps keep his teammates focused on safety fundamentals.

Question: Whose job is safety?
Answer: Mine.

Question: Are you committed to “Zero Harm”?
Answer: Yes.

Question: Who has the authority to stop work because of a safety concern?
Answer: I do.

“Keeping those three questions at the forefront of everyone’s mind ensures that we are all on the same page,” says Alex. “Whether I am on-site or not, our teams make sure that safety is always effectively communicated.”

Making Safety Inclusive

One of the most important steps to getting on the same page is ensuring everyone on our jobsites understands safety materials. According to the National Association of Home Builders, nearly one in three construction workers identify as Hispanic/Latinx, and approximately half of construction laborers identify as Hispanic/Latinx. Translations of these essential materials allow our teams and partners to make informed, safe choices when faced with split-second decisions.

Alex, who is fluent in Spanish, has also gone above and beyond his day-to-day responsibilities by helping translate company-wide safety materials such as Toolbox Talks, training materials, jobsite signage and more. His efforts ensure we communicate with precision and accuracy to our diverse project teams and trade partners across our entire U.S. operations.

“These materials are vital to the success and safety of our projects. We can’t afford for anyone to miss this information,” Alex says. “Our teams need to be able to read and understand the information. Translating them is one way to make sure that’s possible.”

The Spanish translations of safety materials have been successful in maintaining greater cohesion and consistency for Balfour Beatty teams across the nation. Alex’s previous role as a safety consultant gave him an understanding of unique demographic and dialect needs across different regions, and he hopes to see safety materials translated into more languages in the future.

Continuing Safety Education

Alex’s passion for safety and desire to continue learning have inspired him to advance his education. Most recently, Alex earned his Associate Safety Professional (ASP) certification, a prerequisite of which was earning his associate degree in construction. The degree and certification processes were not easy; Alex studied and took classes on his own time, learning valuable lessons he brings with him each day to our jobsites.

“Ongoing safety training is crucial to our goal of achieving Zero Harm,” says Eric Yates, regional safety, environmental and health manager. “Alex’s initiative in pursuing and achieving the ASP certification demonstrates his continued commitment to improving both himself and our overall safety performance.”

Though proud to have achieved his ASP certification, Alex is far from finished. “I never dreamed I would get my degree or certification, but now that I know I can do it, why would I stop here?” He is excited to tackle his next endeavor: earning his Certified Safety Professional (CSP) certification. The first step? Completing his bachelor’s degree.

An inclusive safety leader who is continuously raising the bar in our pursuit of Zero Harm, Alex Ramos knows first-hand that choices made in a split-second can save a life. And on his watch, those choices are sure to be safe ones.

Keith put those skills to the test as design-build manager on the I-295 Fayetteville Outer Loop project in Fayetteville, North Carolina. From the outset, the project faced significant delays due the North Carolina Map Act, which required the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to compensate landowners for properties included on future transportation maps. As the NCDOT addressed Map Act-related settlements and budget adjustments, the project was effectively suspended.

Compounding these issues, Hurricane Florence made landfall in September 2018, resulting in a catastrophic, 500-year flood event to the corridor connecting I-95 and Fayetteville Outer Loop. At the time, the Fayetteville Outer Loop project design was only planned to withstand a 50-year flood event. In the wake of the devastation, former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper emphasized the importance of resilient infrastructure to the state’s rebuilding efforts. 

In response, Keith partnered with the owner to proactively propose improvements bringing that segment of highway to a 100-year design standard. His initiative sparked broader conversations about the project’s untapped potential, ultimately leading to the inclusion of additional segments of I-95. Over the next 18 months, the project team successfully negotiated and integrated the expanded scope through a progressive design-build approach. The project grew from $129 million to $240 million in what became the largest change order and the first use of progressive design-build in NCDOT history.

“It was a win-win,” Keith recalls. “Balfour Beatty received critical time extension, and the owner was able to accelerate construction of I-95 by 15 years and bring it up to required standards. It was a truly collaborative effort.”

Moreover, the change order also reduced risk for both Balfour Beatty and the client. Because the change order was processed as a lump sum, it reduced our risk of incurring quantity overruns and the client’s risk of cost overruns.

Balancing Risk, Research and Reason

Balfour Beatty has gone on to procure additional collaborative contracts with NCDOT, including our largest regional project to date, U.S. 70 James City. Although Keith estimates that approximately sixty percent of infrastructure opportunities will soon be procured under collaborative models, many hard-bid and other traditional delivery opportunities still abound.

No matter what the delivery model, Keith has his eye fixed firmly five to seven years into the future, assessing every opportunity through a disciplined lens of risk tolerance, margin health and other critical decision factors that ensure Balfour Beatty achieves sustainable business growth.

While Keith bases his proposals on many known quantities, he also contends with much that is unknown. Due to market and supply chain volatility, a project priced two years ago at $100 million could easily have swelled to $200 million today. Keith’s longstanding relationships in the design and engineering communities as well as with industry associations such as the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) empower him to better anticipate these uncertainties in an industry that is becoming ever-more dynamic by the day.

Keith’s precision proposals are a powerful advantage in procuring work across every delivery type, but he is quick to credit Balfour Beatty’s integrated capabilities as the driver of success in his final bid numbers.

“You win with shorter schedules. You get shorter schedules by understanding the scope of work better than the competition, maintaining stronger relationships with the subcontractors who have solid production histories and then pricing the job correctly,” affirms Keith. “It’s about having the right leaders on the ground with the right blend of skills.”

An Architect of Change

A respected visionary within Balfour Beatty and the construction industry at large, Keith Nixon is an architect of change and an advocate for progress. His career – and the projects he has touched – are a testament to value of cultivating diverse skillsets, establishing trusted partnerships and leading with clarity and consistency. 

Since joining Balfour Beatty, Kevin has been a major contributor to the successful completion of the system, traction power and SCADA packages for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line Extension and the notable Los Angeles International Airport’s (LAX) Automated People Mover (APM), where he serves as technical advisor. On the Caltrain Design-Build Electrification project, his leadership has been instrumental in the successful interconnection, testing and commissioning of 38 electrical facilities across a 52-mile corridor, including substations, switching stations and wayside power cabinets. In addition, Kevin also provides organizational support for Balfour Beatty’s Total Power Group manufacturing operation.

A former U.S. Marine, Kevin brings discipline, focus and strategic insight to every engagement. He is deeply committed to team development, organizational ethics and continuous improvement.

Kevin is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University and holds additional academic credentials in business management and electrical engineering technology. He is an active member of the Project Management Institute and the International Council on Systems Engineering.

Jason first encountered Balfour Beatty’s operations while he worked as a temporary laborer on the sprawling Buckhead Atlanta family of projects, a mixed-use development district where our teams have maintained a near-constant presence as a construction partner since its 2005 inception.

Jason initially reported to a former safety, health and environment (SE) director and Brian Whetstone, now a senior superintendent on the LAX Automated People Mover project in California. Brian and other leaders took note of Jason’s enthusiasm for construction (a fact that surprised him as much as anyone) and soon brought him onto the team as a safety-focused understudy. Just a foot into the construction door, to be sure, but one that proved formative.

“I spent those four years working in safety asking constant questions, growing in my understanding of construction management, safety principles and the day-to-day responsibilities of project superintendents,” Jason recalls. “Eventually, I was acting enough like a superintendent that I set on the path to becoming one.”

In the years since, rising from assistant to now senior superintendent, Jason’s SHE foundations have given him a keen understanding of the Zero Harm principles that underpin Balfour Beatty’s Georgia operations. In fact, Jason sees a strict adherence to our Zero Harm ethic as a cornerstone of our service to clients, a core value never more evident than when building a K-12 campus like his current project, the Pulaski K-8 School Conversion for Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS).

“Especially with students on an active campus, our team must create a service-minded, Zero Harm jobsite culture among all trade partners, laborers and visitors,” Jason says. “We base that on our relationships with administration and staff. They know our safety plan because they’re an integral part of it. They know us by name and know exactly where our fences are. As servants and partners, we could do no less.”

Leading in Excellence

 Jason is quick to add that relationships don’t just matter in the dynamic between contractor and client, but also between contractor and trade partner, superintendent and day laborer. By creating a healthy jobsite culture, where open communication is encouraged and mental health and wellness are prioritized, Jason and Balfour Beatty superintendents like him empower everyone to seek excellence, ask for help when it’s needed and ultimately continue our reputation as a top builder in Savannah.

Ultimately, relationships are not one-time events. Just as our client relationships require cultivation and maintenance over time, so do the most fruitful trade partner relationships. And with project leaders like Jason at the helm and Balfour Beatty’s people-first values on- and off-site, those trade partners seem to come back again and again.

“Especially in a market with specific safety needs like K-12 education, it’s important that we build trust and camaraderie with trade partners who really understand those needs and can meet our standards of excellent service,” Jason says. “We build those relationships to last, and as much as one half of our partners on the Pulaski K-8 project will be joining us on two future SCCPSS projects.”

Still, in a fast-paced market with a diverse range of project types, Balfour Beatty is always looking to expand our network of trusted trade partners and build lasting relationships. But that can sometimes lead to trade partners taking on new or more advanced scopes of work. For Jason, centering people, relationships and servant leadership is key to helping everyone succeed.

“Everybody on a jobsite wants to succeed, and as a leader I want to do everything I can to empower success as a standard of service to our clients,” Jason says. “If I’ve built a strong relational foundation with a trade partner, it’s easy to see when they’re struggling, address the issue head-on and find out how we can work together to improve together.”

Culture Creators

Culture. Servant leadership. Relationships. While these are certainly the foundations for client service and project success, Balfour Beatty teams and leaders like Jason also know how to leverage these principles into community fun.

On the Pulaski project, Jason and the team took time out of their busy schedules to have the 2024-2025 class of fifth graders sign a steel beam destined for the entry vestibule – a mark that will hopefully last in the students’ memories for as many years as the campus serves students.

Jason’s marks on his projects, clients and partners are just as lasting: projects built right and with pride and excellence, clients that know their values are understood and shared and partners that know we care about their development and success.