NEW YORK – Kenneth Xu, Ph.D., PE, and Raghu Bhargava joined HNTB Corporation’s national tunnel group, serving on complex tunnel and underground projects nationwide. 

“Kenny and Raghu are recognized global leaders in tunnels and underground structures and well-suited for critical leadership positions with the tunnel practice,” said Sanja Zlatanic, PE, HNTB chair national tunnel practice, senior vice president and HNTB Fellow. “As our nation grows, reliable, connected transportation systems are increasingly important, and tunnel infrastructure provides some of the most critical inter-regional connectors across the nation.”

Kenneth Xu, senior project engineer – tunnels, has more than 35 years of international and domestic experience encompassing academic and technical consulting responsibilities. 

His mega tunnel project experience includes Access to The Region’s Core in New Jersey and New York. In New York, he worked on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction Second Ave Subway Phase I; Amtrak’s Gateway Tunnels; and LaGuardia Airport Redevelopment. Abroad, he supported Lane Cove Tunnel in Sydney, Australia. His specialty areas include settlement control using ground improvement methods in soft soils, numerical modeling and tunnel instrumentation and monitoring. Xu also has significant involvement with large ports and marine projects.

Xu earned a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from the University of Sydney in Australia, and a Master of Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree from Central-South University in Changsha, China. 

Raghu Bhargava, principal tunnel engineer, has more than 23 years of experience on large international and U.S.-based transportation infrastructure projects. 

As a tunneling/geotechnical design lead, his projects include California High-Speed Rail; East West Link Tunnel Melbourne; Victorian Desalination Plant Melbourne; New Metro Rail Perth; Airport Link Brisbane; Waterview Connection Tunnels Auckland; Taiwan High Speed Rail; Dubai Purple Line; Dubai Metro-Red Line; and Singapore Circle Line Extension. His areas of expertise include design of bored and mined tunnels; precast segmental lining; station excavation; ground treatment; ground settlement analyses; impacts of constructions on buildings, infrastructure and services; and geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring.

Bhargava earned a Master of Engineering – geotechnical from the Asian Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. 

HNTB has served on, or currently serves, some of the most complex tunnel programs nationwide, including lead designer for the Washington State Department of Transportation’s SR 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement project; independent design reviewer for the Istanbul Strait Road Tunnel Crossing in Turkey; and lead designer, also providing construction design services, for Phase II of the design-build Presidio Parkway project in San Francisco. 

About HNTB 
HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure firm serving public and private owners and contractors. With more than a century of service in the United States, HNTB understands the life cycle of infrastructure and addresses clients’ most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. Professionals nationwide deliver a full range of infrastructure-related services, including award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management. For more information, visit www.hntb.com.