Building a new Philadelphia: Megan Clarkin

Philadelphia holds a special place in the history of the United States. It’s the city where the country’s founders signed the Declaration of Independence and wrote the Constitution. For more than 100 years after the country’s founding, Philadelphia was among the top five largest cities in the United States.

For students of infrastructure, Philadelphia’s legacy stands out for different reasons. The city built America’s first major municipal water system, pioneered public utilities with its city-owned gas works in 1836 and emerged as an early leader in urban planning. These innovations helped shape how cities across the United States approach public works and urban development.

Megan Clarkin, Director of Infrastructure Services at the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, believes the city’s rich history and legacy of innovation inspire a renewed commitment to great urban infrastructure.

"Philadelphia is a business-friendly city while also very focused on delivering services to residents and businesses alike," Clarkin says. "We’re always trying to do as much for Philadelphia as possible."

A history of public service

Clarkin has devoted more than a decade to managing Philadelphia’s infrastructure, first in the city’s water department and then moving to its transportation and infrastructure department in 2022.

You could say public service is in her DNA. Her mother was a career civil servant, and her grandfather served in the United States military. Her father, however, was a telecommunications executive, and she credits early exposure to the opportunities and challenges in the public and private sectors with shaping her perspective on the role of government services.

"The public sector is really the nexus of everyone’s values," she says. "Every person, every business and every stakeholder has their priorities. It’s the government’s role to figure out how we will line up these priorities with our budgets and ensure that we’re delivering essential services."

A broad portfolio

Clarkin’s department looks after Philadelphia’s traditional infrastructure, such as surface transportation, water supply and sewage. She notes that her department helps facilitate and coordinate major projects.

For instance, for the Interstate 95 Revive project, her department is working closely with the project-lead Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, to facilitate real estate acquisitions for right-of-way, temporary construction easements and council ordinances, as well as permit reviews and maintenance agreements.

It also leads infrastructure projects at the neighborhood scale, such as the Neighborhood Infrastructure Improvement Program, to reconstruct shared retaining walls and driveways for residents.

She says that Philadelphia officials are excited about investment opportunities provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), passed in 2021, which allocates over a trillion dollars for infrastructure investments, including roads, bridges, public transit, water systems, broadband and clean energy.

Clarkin and her colleagues also recognize an opportunity to improve Philadelphia’s infrastructure resiliency via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed in 2022, which also provides funding for climate-related initiatives and other efforts.

"The BIL and IRA enable the city to prioritize and aggregate large-scale projects as a result of these historic investments, which we wouldn’t otherwise be able to tackle," she says.

The city has set a goal of securing US$1 billion in BIL and IRA grant funding by 2026, Clarkin says. As a first step, the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems is building an experienced grant development group to help secure funding for the city’s infrastructure aspirations.

The importance of collaboration

Clarkin says upcoming endeavors will cover a wide range of infrastructure priorities, from funding overdue repairs on bridges built in the 1800s to major projects supporting Philadelphia’s airport, seaports and communities.

This includes the Chinatown Stitch project, which was awarded the single largest capital construction grant under the BIL/IRA (US$158 million) to construct a highway cap over the sunken I-676 expressway to reconnect Philadelphia’s Chinatown community.

Another major project underway is the development of the Bellwether District, led by HRP Group, into an innovation, ecommerce and logistics campus. She says collaboration and collegiality are crucial in any of these projects, as they will involve a range of city departments, state and federal agencies and private sector stakeholders.

"One of our biggest strengths is our capacity for building relationships," Clarkin explains. "It’s a big aspect of why we’re so successful."

With project timelines that often span a decade or longer, Clarkin also believes creating a work environment that attracts and retains top talent is critical to her department’s contribution to the overall success of the city’s infrastructure investments.

"We need folks who are going to stick around and see the projects come to fruition," she says. "We need to create a culture where people are invested, and they want to stay."

For Clarkin, underpinning it all is a deep commitment to public service.

"You have to maintain an exceptional service orientation," she points out. "Every day, I strive to be a leader who asks, ‘What can I do for you?’ both for my staff and the people we serve – the residents and businesses of Philadelphia."