Elevating Construction Quality with Technology and Process Innovation
With experience leading quality acceptance programs on billion-dollar infrastructure projects like the TxDOT and FlatironDragados New Harbor Bridge, Barry Burks, P.E., is shaping how advanced technology integrates into quality workflows — helping clients reduce risk and accelerate the acceptance inspection and testing processes in the field.
Tell us about your role at Atlas and how it connects to shaping solutions for transportation infrastructure.
As Construction Quality Acceptance Manager, my role begins with developing project-specific Quality Acceptance procedures within the Construction Quality Management Plan. These procedures establish how inspection and testing will be performed across a project’s construction lifecycle. By embedding technology, such as digital inspection forms or automated error checking, directly into those processes, we create efficiencies that save time and cost while maintaining the quality standards clients expect.
Looking back, what pivotal experience most shaped your career in quality management?
Working with Dr. Garold Oberlender during my master’s program at Oklahoma State University was transformative. He taught me how reducing the duration of repetitive critical path activities can dramatically impact an entire project’s construction timeline.
That insight has driven my focus for the past twenty years: finding the smartest application of technology to reduce the duration and cost of hold point activities by speeding up inspection and materials testing. It’s about identifying bottlenecks that slow everything down and systematically eliminating them through better tools and processes.
You’ll be speaking at on integrating technology into workflows. What’s the biggest challenge and opportunity you see in automation and technology adoption?
The biggest hurdle is economic timing. Often, adopting new technologies requires upfront investments in equipment, software and training that may take several months to show offsetting efficiencies and cost savings.
The key is to present stakeholders with a clear, early picture of both the costs and long-term benefits. When people understand the full value proposition, the likelihood of acceptance and successful implementation is improved. You need to build the business case alongside the technical case.
When clients are rolling out new technologies in QA/QC, how do you help ensure processes deliver results?
Technology is only as good as the people using it and the processes supporting it. We ensure that every technology rollout includes comprehensive initial training, then reinforce those processes during Pre-Activity meetings before each new work type begins.
You need to embed the technology into daily workflows and provide ongoing support. The best technology won’t help if your team doesn’t understand how to use it effectively or why it matters.
Can you share a project that highlights how Atlas delivers quality through both process and innovation?
The new Harbor Bridge Project is a perfect example of technology and process working together. At 3,200+ feet long and 538 feet tall, it’s the longest concrete segmental cable-stayed bridge in North America. Coordinating quality across 15+ fabrication facilities presented unique challenges.
We equipped each of our inspection staff with tablet computers and electronic forms, enabling them to complete daily inspection reports and related testing forms directly in the field. These tools reduced documentation time for inspectors while significantly reducing risks through automated error checking of test results.
When you’re managing the quality acceptance of a $1.3 billion project with components coming from facilities across the U.S. and abroad, every efficiency matters. The technology helped us maintain consistent quality standards while keeping the project moving forward.
What motivates you in your work every day?
For me, it’s seeing a well-thought-through procedure put into action in the field or lab and knowing it leads to timely acceptance of the work. It shows that the effort spent planning and preparing pays off, and it helps our projects move forward without unnecessary delays.
Every day, we’re contributing to infrastructure that communities will rely on for decades. Knowing that our quality processes contribute to safer, more durable bridges, roads and facilities drives me.
Outside of work, where do you find inspiration?
I’m constantly reading journal articles and watching videos and documentaries about emerging technologies across various fields of science and engineering. Seeing how others achieve success through innovation in their work motivates me to explore new approaches in mine.
Innovation comes from connecting ideas across disciplines and applying them in new contexts. Whether it’s materials science, automation or data analytics, there’s always something that can be adapted to improve construction quality processes.
Barry Burks will join the panel discussion at Advancing Construction Quality 2025, October 6-8 in Nashville, TN. Discover how Atlas delivers quality at scale on infrastructure projects. Learn more