Member Awardee

THOMAS W. TRAYLOR was born in  Evansville, Indiana on July 1, 1939.   Both his father and grandfather were engineers, and Tom’s father, William, founded Traylor Bros., Inc., in 1946. He was the first family member to become a member of The Moles.  Construction job sites were familiar places for Tom after school and on weekends, working on cofferdams, as a tugboat deckhand and another summer as a rodman.  He had his laborer’s card at age 18. 

After graduating from MIT in 1961, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, he went on to Stanford University, where he received his Masters degree in Business Administration in 1963. Throughout his college years, Tom continued to work summers with the shop welders, fabricating  tunnel shields.

Tom’s first full-time position was as a head engineer on the Eastside Interceptor Tunnels in Seattle, followed by  assistant manager on the McAlpine Dam replacement project in Louisville, Kentucky. Other field assignments that followed: project manager on the Tennessee River Bridge at Chattanooga and project manager on a four-mile rock tunnel in St. Louis.

Then it was a  move back to corporate headquarters in Evansville, Indiana.  After several years working closely with his father and being involved in project sponsorship, estimating, and corporate management, Tom became President of Traylor Bros. in 1979.  He developed the company into a multi-divisional organization, operating in all regions of the United States.  Under his direction, Traylor completed nearly 200 bridge, marine, and heavy projects, and nearly 100 underground projects. Through his membership in The Moles, Tom came to know other Moles members, resulting in joint venture projects with Granite, Kiewit, Weeks Marine, Massman, Kenny, J.F. Shea, Obayashi, and Frontier-Kemper.  After an absence of almost 30 years, the company is now back working  in New York City in joint venture with Granite Construction Company and Frontier Kemper on the  recently awarded $659 Mil. contract for the construction of the Queens Bored Tunnels and Structures, part of the Long Island’s Railroad Eastside Project.

When it comes to tunneling, Traylor Bros. excels in difficult ground conditions and has constructed some of the most technically demanding pressurized face tunnels in North America: the CN Rail Tunnel connecting Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, to Port Huron, Michigan; and the San Diego South Bay Ocean Outfall Tunnel.

He and his wife, Nancy, who is also from Evansville, have four sons: Tom Jr., Mike, Chris and Dan, all of whom are employed by Traylor Bros.