BELLEVUE, WA — Carol Thompson joins HNTB Corporation as Senior Transit Planner, and Kimberly Proia, PE, joins HNTB as a Project Director and Vice President. They are both based in the firm’s Bellevue, Washington, office.

Thompson brings nearly 50 years of industry experience in transportation planning within Snohomish County and the Puget Sound region. Most recently, Thompson was with Community Transit in Everett, Washington, working closely with partner agencies in Snohomish County and the greater Puget Sound area.

“In addition to extensive hands-on experience directly addressing the public transportation needs of Snohomish County from her tenure at Community Transit and the City of Lynnwood, Carol has a deep understanding of our regional transportation situation and the related significance of efficient mobility to our growing region,” said Kevin Collins, PE, HNTB Seattle Office Leader and Vice President. “Her in-depth expertise in transportation planning along with her history of building relationships with partner organizations will add significant value to our firm in our continued commitment to meet our clients’ project delivery needs.”

In her previous role with Community Transit, Thompson served as Regional Integration Manager for the agency’s Planning and Development department. In this role, Thompson was the single point of contact on topics of transit integration for partner agencies in Puget Sound, including Sound Transit, City of Seattle and Washington State Department of Transportation.

She also was frequently involved in addressing transit issues in Snohomish County, City of Lynnwood, City of Bothell and City of Everett, and oversaw bus routes and schedules for Community Transit bus service. During her time at Community Transit, Thompson was a member of the team that designed and scheduled the Swift Bus Rapid Transit service launched in 2009, the first BRT service in the state of Washington.

Prior to her work at Community Transit, Thompson was a Transportation Planner for the City of Lynnwood for six years, where she served as the city representative during the development of the Sound Transit 2 program. She earned a master’s degree in urban planning from San Jose State University and a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

Proia will serve as the Deputy Project Manager for the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extension project, an 11.8-mile extension to the Sound Transit Link light rail system. In this role, she is responsible for leading approximately 50 co-located project staff members and working with Sound Transit to determine where agency and consultant engineering resources are best directed to support project development.

With nearly 25 years of experience in rail transit, Proia has honed her professional expertise in program management, preliminary engineering, final design and environmental impact statements for rail-transit projects across the U.S.

“Kim brings significant leadership experience and hands-on knowledge of rail-transit projects from planning and environmental clearance through final design and construction,” Collins said. “She is a well-known and respected professional within the transit industry, and we are very excited for her to be an integral part of our leadership team, continuing to serve our clients and deliver transit solutions for the region.”

Previously, Proia was Project Manager for design services of the $1.86-billion Green Line Extension program in Minnesota. This 14.5-mile, double-track light-rail project navigated through the cities of Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. She also was Project Manager and Engineering Lead for an 18-mile commuter-rail corridor between Denver Union Station and Weld County, Commerce City and Thornton, Colorado, — a project of nearly $1 billion.

Proia earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Purdue University. She also is an active member of the American Public Transportation Association and WTS International.