2020 Year in Review: Robert Duval, TFMoran, Inc.

What was the most difficult part of working during the pandemic of 2020? The problems we faced were on several levels: Reassuring our employees that we were providing them a safe workplace at the office, and the appropriate tools to work remotely when necessary. Maintaining productivity while keeping up with everyone’s unique personal schedules as well as constantly changing guidelines for schools, travel restrictions, and personal interaction. Dealing with greatly increased delays from government agencies as they struggle to manage the same issues. And the most difficult part - the pandemic is not over yet!

What aspects of working from home have you enjoyed most? The ability to meet virtually allows me to schedule more meetings in less time than the old face-to-face way of doing things. Although I do miss the personal interaction: shaking hands and catching up with personal news with friends and business associates you may not have seen for years. 

A lot of our business involves attending Public Hearings. Although skeptical at first, I am finding that being able to sit at home to attend a virtual public meeting, rather than traveling to and from Town Halls across the state, is a real convenience.

What was your greatest professional accomplishment or most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2020? One of the projects that give me great satisfaction this year is the I93 Widening project, now almost complete. In 1993 I was part of the environmental study team that identified many significant natural resources needing special protection for this project to go ahead. And over the past 12 years, TFMoran has been designing and inspecting the environmental controls needed to protect those significant natural resources during construction. Many of these protection measures were new to the region, and are now being used successfully across the state. What pleases me most, after more than 12 years of construction, is we helped the NHDOT, NHDES, and the largest road contractors in the state to build over $500 million of new roadway without any significant environmental problems along the way.