Darcy Sulz: From Dreamer to 3D Designer

We’re an interconnected nationwide team, but we each have our own reasons for being passionate about the work we do. This month, get to know Darcy Sulz, senior technician in our Boise office.

What’s your background and how did you become a transportation professional?

As a child I dabbled in city planning, roadway design, and construction. Even without formal transportation training, my LEGO® bricks came together to create the best cities and roads one could dream up.

I come from a family that has been involved in construction in some way or another my whole life. I helped build our house and worked summers doing construction during high school. It still amazes me how you can take random materials and transform them into magnificent structures. So, I guess I naturally fell into engineering. Funny thing though, I had in my mind that I wanted to become a doctor and started to pursue that in school to quickly find out that wasn’t the path for me when that stuff made me queasy.

After I received a degree in civil engineering from California State University Northridge, I started my career designing airport runways, taxiways, etc. I now get to design and create 3D models that transform nothing into something—roads that we use every day.

What are a few of your favorite projects you’ve worked on in the last 7 years at Kittelson?

A couple projects that I have been fortunate to work on that I really enjoyed are the 11th Street Bikeway and the SH-16 and Valnova Drive Improvements. The reason why these stick out in my mind is mainly because of their 3D modeling aspects.

On the 11th Street bikeway project, we had to design the roadway, sidewalks and new raised bikeway to fit within the existing conditions of 11th Street. I was tasked with the 3D modeling which was a challenge since certain grades needed to be met on the roadways and sidewalks while joining back into existing areas. Although I pulled my hair out several times trying to figure out how to make everything work, I was able to solve the problems and create a model that worked. And now we have a finished street that not only drains properly but that looks good with its new dedicated bike lane.

The Valnova Drive improvements projects are very unique in that we designed an interchange over SH-16 with a roundabout at each end of the overpass. I particularly enjoyed these projects as they were in an undeveloped area. Fresh unbroken ground is the Holy Grail for a designer. For the first phase of the project, I was able to design and model the first roundabout which connects to an exit ramp off of Sh-16 and a roadway which leads up to a housing development in the hills. This roundabout is unique because we had to also design a hill to put it on to connect it to a future bridge crossing SH-16. It is the roundabout in the sky. The second phase was to design the roundabout on the opposite side of SH-16 and create a ramp down to SH-16 along with a connector bridge. With this roundabout the challenge was where to place it and get the proper clearances for the bridge. It sits on top of an even higher hill and we needed to place the roundabout such that we weren’t excavating the whole hill while keeping the grades of the ramp and bridge connecting to the first roundabout at manageable grades.

Both projects had their own unique grading challenges to figure out and I thoroughly enjoy doing that.

What do you think are the most important skills for someone in your position?

As an engineer, our job is to solve problems and make our clients ideas come to life. There isn’t one right way to make something work so thinking outside of the box and figuring out how to solve the problem is a great skill to have.

Another very important skill to have is communication: whether that is asking questions, asking for help, or just talking with other team members. Good communication skills are valuable to help reduce mistakes and errors while designing.

To go along with the skill to communicate is the skill to delegate and teach others. I come from a background of doing things myself, so having to step out of my comfort zone and teach others to do the tasks I would rather do myself has been a challenge at times. But overall, it has been very rewarding. I have found that while teaching I’m asked questions I may not know the answer to, which then leads me to research and figure it out and discover new methods of designing to share with others.

How do you stay on top of technology advancements and new design tools?

I have the tendency to always tweak things to work the way I want them, whether it be my cars, clothes, or computer programs. This tendency has helped me stay ahead of the game because I try to figure out if there is a better or alternative way. By researching to see if there is a better or alternative way that suits me, many times I have come across new methods and tools.

So, my constant tinkering and tweaking helps me stay on top of the advancements out there. Of course, I cannot stay on top of everything as there is so much available, but I think I get by pretty well.

What advice do you have for someone considering a career in transportation?

The main thing I would say to someone is make sure that transportation, whichever aspect you are considering, is a passion and something you love to do. I love what I do, and the 17 years of my career designing has flown by. It hasn’t felt like a job that I have to go to; it’s been something I look forward to doing each day. I won’t lie it has its challenges and if given the chance to do nothing and get paid lots of money I’d probably do that.