Introduction
John A. Nawn, PE, is a forensic consulting engineer in civil engineering, specializing in highway and street design, traffic engineering, utilities construction, storm drainage, pedestrian safety, walkway surface evaluations, and concrete and asphalt pavement evaluations. He has had an over 30 year career in the local civil engineering community and has extensive experience in design, construction management, project related claims, job site safety, codes and standards, and ADA compliance.
John and his wife, Barbara, live in Newtown Square, Delaware County. They have two adult children and one grandson.
Professional Responsibilities
Mr. Nawn is currently employed as a Forensic Civil Engineer at Fleisher Forensics in Ambler, where he is responsible for evaluating matters involving highway and traffic engineering, including intersections, urban and rural roadways, interstate highways, parking lots, signage, pavement marking and traffic controls, codes and zoning requirements, sidewalks and crosswalks, and public utilities. This includes plan and project document review, site inspections, consulting in code compliance and standards, work zone safety, construction management, and claims and safety. He also performs evaluations of ice and snow control, grading, storm water management, detention and retention basins, and soil and sedimentation control.
Professional Career
Mr. Nawn's 30-plus-year engineering career began as a co-op student at Drexel University where he served as Resident Engineer on three bridge reconstruction projects for the Chester County Engineer's Office. He has served as a principal, project manager, and/or task manager responsible for the design, engineering and management of various traffic, transportation, highway, bridge, mass transit, railroad, environmental, municipal and construction engineering projects with several local firms. He has been responsible for directing the activities of project managers, project engineers, staff engineers, and CAD and field technicians across multiple offices and locations, in the preparation of design and construction drawings and contract documents for all phases of transportation facility design from concept to final plans and project close-out. His projects have included bridge and highway designs, intersection and traffic signal design, railroad bridge and culvert design, traffic studies, maintenance and protection of traffic plans, construction management and engineering and dam inspections. He has also served as a municipal traffic engineering consultant and a municipal engineer.
Perhaps Mr. Nawn is best known locally for his work with Back In/Reverse Angle Parking. He designed and oversaw the first application of this method in Pennsylvania in 2001, and its use has since spread throughout the Commonwealth. For his efforts with this, he has made several presentations. He is acknowledged as a contributor to the Institute of Transportation Engineers' Urban Street Geometric Design Handbook and is presently completing a paper on Highway Engineering Fundamentals for publication in the National Academy of Forensic Engineers' Journal of Forensic Engineering.
Education, Teaching and Certifications
Mr. Nawn holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Drexel University. In addition to his duties at Fleisher Forensics, he presently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Temple University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering where he is an instructor for two graduate level courses in Transportation Engineering and Transportation Systems Management.
Mr. Nawn is a licensed professional engineer in nine states, as well as a Certified Professional Traffic Operations Engineer, Certified Floodplain Manager, and Certified Forensic Consultant.
Honors and Awards
Mr. Nawn has been honored as the 2008 Engineering Manager of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Philadelphia Section, the 2011 Engineer of the Year by the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers, and the 2011 State Engineer of the Year by the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers.
Society Memberships and Offices
Mr. Nawn has been a member of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE) since 1990. He served for three years as the newsletter editor for the Delaware County Chapter followed by three years as Chapter President. This past September, he was installed as PSPE Society President, following terms as Treasurer, Vice President of the Southeast Region, and Society President-Elect. He is also a Fellow of the National Society of Professional Engineers where he served on the national Legislative and Government Affairs committee and the Critical Infrastructure Committee.
In addition to his service with PSPE, Mr. Nawn has been a member of the Philadelphia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Mid-Atlantic Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and the Engineers Club of Philadelphia. At ASTM International, he is a voting member of three committees regarding road and paving materials, pavement friction, and walkway safety.
Civil Involvement
In his community, Mr. Nawn has served as a Judge of Elections for his voting precinct, and has been a member and Vice Chairman of the Planning Commissions in two of the Delaware County communities in which he has resided. He is presently in his second term as an elected Township Supervisor in his community of 12,000 residents. He has served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Board for Newtown Township, Delaware County. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the private Newtown Square Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. He was a long time member of the Board of Directors of the Delaware County Transportation Management Association, including four years as the Chairman. For the past five years, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Community Transit of Delaware County, a private, nonprofit transportation company which provides demand-responsive service to the general public.