Josh Blackburn likes to be outdoors. On the weekends, he's probably mountain biking, fishing or cruising around on his motorcycle. Before his career in the construction industry, Josh used to be a professional stunt performer, tumbling down hills or running around film locations. His current job as a Carpenter Foreman on the Project lets him spend even more time outside, of course, and Josh couldn't be happier.
Prior to the Sixth Street Viaduct, Josh has worked on bridges throughout Southern California. Those projects were primarily constructed using a standard box girder design in which the structure is built with supports shaped like hollow boxes. This bridge design allows for construction using consistent, uniform elements.
That's not the case here.
The bounding arches of the Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement require that each section is different from the next. That means every new step involves changes from previous sections and can present new challenges along the way. Josh likes that the Project continues to test his abilities and gives him the opportunity to learn on the job.
Due to the Project's complex design, Josh tells his team to always check their work in several different ways to avoid making mistakes. As a foreman, he enjoys teaching and guiding his crew to help them advance their careers from apprentices to journeymen.
Josh is also responsible for keeping everyone on his team safe. He likes to say that working slow and smooth is the real way to work fast. Because on this Project, there are no stunt doubles.
Josh Blackburn
