From Intern to Multimodal Planning Branch Manager: Tim Kirby
By Kailyn Kaskovec, Process Improvement Intern
March 9, 2020
Tim Kirby began his career with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) as an Intern in 2014 and has since worked his way up to the Multimodal Planning Branch Manager in the Division of Transportation Development (DTD).
As a graduate from University of Colorado Denver with a Masters in Political Science and Public Administration, Tim found his passion in public service while working with Colorado state senators. During his time in Senator Bennet's office, Tim realized the importance of transportation, specifically when it came to veterans’ access to health care. Tim states, “all of my analysis of everything seemed to, in one way or another, whether it's public health or the environment, lead back to transportation. So that was kind of the fulcrum of all those things that I was interested in was in that one particular field.” Tim decided to pursue this new passion through an internship with CDOT in the Division of Transportation Development.
Tim Kirby speaks on Denver news 7 regarding funding for highway improvements.
During his internship, Tim worked on planning projects and mentions one of the most impactful was a small role that he played in the Grand Avenue Bridge. “It's a pretty cool thing when you can drive around and say, I helped deliver that, you know, I played a small role in developing this. I think that is really rewarding,” says Tim.
After about five months in his internship, a position opened up on the team that was then called the MPO and Regional Planning section, so he became a liaison. He was working primarily in Region 3 and focused on the I-70 mountain corridor in the northwest portion of the state. After a couple years, Tim was again promoted to Manager in the MPO and Regional Planning section. Continuing to grow his career, Tim worked his way up to the position he’s in today.
Tim continues to be engaged with CDOT through the diversity of projects, collaboration with stakeholders across the state, the sense of giving back to Colorado, and most importantly, the relationships he's built at CDOT. He’s always learning and appreciates the technical side of the work as well as the people side.
The three pieces of advice that Tim has for other interns is: be kind, work hard, and be persistent. His beginnings as an intern at CDOT have shaped his career to what it is today. He suggests for future interns, “in terms of maximizing your experiences, come at it from that perspective that you have unique skills that you can share to help the department deliver on critical functions, and don't be afraid to share those because they are valuable.”
Working at CDOT has been rewarding for Tim, and as he continues his work here, he describes what I believe draws most of CDOT employees to this work, “we're doing work on behalf of the citizens of Colorado, and it's hard not to be motivated every day to go to work.”