Office Spotlight: Richmond
Four years in, Gorove Slade’s Richmond team is helping projects across Central Virginia move from feasibility to construction.
Since opening in 2022, Gorove Slade’s Richmond office in Glen Allen has grown into an eight-person team serving developers, engineers, and public agencies across the Richmond region. Led by Carl Hultgren, Mike Bailey, and Michael Young, the team brings the firm’s traffic engineering expertise to one of Virginia’s fastest-growing markets, with the local knowledge and responsiveness clients count on.
Built for How Projects Move Forward
The Richmond team’s work centers on two of the firm’s core services: analysis and design. Together, they follow a development project from its earliest questions through construction.
Analysis typically occurs during the entitlement phase, when we identify the approvals a project will require. For example, the team supports due diligence and feasibility studies, access management, traffic impact studies, and signal justification studies, which determine whether an intersection meets the criteria for a new traffic signal.
Design often picks up where analysis leaves off. The team prepares traffic signal designs and maintenance of traffic plans, which keep drivers, pedestrians, and workers safe while construction is underway. Because the same team often handles both phases, clients get continuity from the first study to final acceptance.
The Richmond office covers Central Virginia and carries out projects in approximately 40 counties every year. Colleagues describe the group as down-to-earth, collaborative, and welcoming. With eight people under one roof, it is easy to tailor the office to the people in it, right down to the snacks!
Local Ties
While most team members grew up outside the Richmond area, several now live in nearby communities. Team lunches often take place at Tres Machos Cantina or Twin Hickory Tavern. Carl’s weekly visits to Taziki’s means that the staff now knows his order by heart.
The team also gets out together beyond the lunch table, with group outings at Draftcade arcade bar. Rob Papera, Michael Young, and Sarah Gwynn recently represented the firm at the Bohler Challenge, an annual fundraising event that brings together commercial real estate and industry professionals.
Because the team lives and works in the region, some of the most meaningful work is close to home.
When Henrico County rebuilt its Eastover Gardens Firehouse 6, the new station needed an intersection capable of handling emergency responses and everyday traffic alike. Gorove Slade designed a new traffic signal at Gay Avenue and Millers Lane, adjacent to the station’s new location. The team worked closely with County stakeholders and the project’s civil engineering team to refine a design that serves drivers, pedestrians, and emergency vehicles.
Eastover Gardens Firehouse 6’s new intersection in Henrico County
Gorove Slade also coordinated with the signal contractor to ensure constructability and stayed with the project through construction and final acceptance in 2025. The result is an intersection that helps firefighters get where they need to go while keeping neighbors safer on foot and behind the wheel.
Firehouse 6 reflects how the Richmond office approaches every assignment: technical precision, close coordination with local partners, and a commitment to outcomes the community can see and use.
Working on a project in the Richmond region? Send an email to Carl to start the conversation.
