The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) announced the Top 12 finalists in the 2021 America’s Transportation Awards competition. Out of the TOP 12, 7 road construction projects have won awards, including 3 CONCRETE PAVEMENT + 1 PARTIAL CONCRETE PAVEMENT WINNERS! The 12 now compete for the top 2 prizes which each come with a $10,000 cash award, for a charity or transportation-related scholarship of the winners’ choosing through online voting:
Grand Prize —Selected by an independent panel of transportation industry experts
People’s Choice Award—Selected by the general public
Online votes will be weighted to each state’s population, allowing for greater competition between states with larger and smaller populations. AASHTO will announce the winners during its Annual Meeting in San Diego, October 26-29. Individuals can cast no more than one vote per day:
ONLINE VOTING LINK through October 25, 2021 | 11:59 pm:
https://transportationawards.secure-platform.com/a/gallery?roundId=27
This is the fourth of four regional contests within the national America’s Transportation Awards competition. The three highest-scoring projects from each regional competition earn a place on a “Top 12” list of projects, which will compete for the Grand Prize – selected by an independent panel of industry judges – and the People’s Choice Award, chosen by the public through online voting.
Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the competition evaluates projects in 3 categories:
• Quality of Life/Community Development
• Best Use of Technology & Innovation
• Operations Excellence
The projects are also divided into 3 sizes:
• small (projects costing up to $25 million)
• medium (projects that cost between $26 million to $200 million)
• large (projects costing more than $200 million).
State department of transportation projects in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Utah have earned the highest number of points in the regional contests, solidifying a place in this year’s Top 12—whittled down from 80 nominees from 35 state DOTs via four U.S. regional contests.
Jim Tymon, Executive Director-AASHTO said, “While the last 18 months have brought so much uncertainty, one thing that has remained the same is the commitment from state DOTs to deliver a safe and efficient multimodal transportation system for our communities. This competition recognizes just a few examples that highlight the ways in which state DOTs are improving quality of life and economic vitality of our communities, saving time and money through new innovations and technologies, and making better use of assets already in place.”
3 CONCRETE PAVEMENT + 1 PARTIAL CONCRETE PAVEMENT WINNERS (click on each photo to enlarge):
Photo: Utah Department of Transportation
Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT)
I-15; Lehi Main to S.R. 92, Technology Corridor
Quality of Life/Community Development, Large category
—The Utah Department of Transportation completed a $415 million project that
• widened I-15 to six lanes in each direction
• reconfigured two interchanges
• replaced 15 bridges
• built a new bridge
• created a new flyover ramp to address traffic congestion in rapidly growing Lehi
Texas Department of Transportation
US 87 Truck Relief Route in Howard County project
Operations Excellence, Medium category—TIE
—The $70 million U.S. 87 Truck Relief Route project improved traffic flow and safety on the Ports to Plains Corridor. Photo left: Texas DOT; Photo right: Amanda Durofat
Texas Department of Transportation
US 175/S.M. Wright Freeway Phase 1 project
Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium category
—A $104 million project converted the U.S. 175 S.M. Wright freeway into a six-lane boulevard to improve the safety, mobility and environment in a southern Dallas neighborhood. Texas Department of Transportation
New Mexico Department of Transportation
NM 136 Pete Domenici International Highway Concrete Overlay Project
Best Use of Technology & Innovation, Medium category
—The New Mexico DOT installed a Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement overlay instead of a full reconstruction of NM 136, saving $20 million.New Mexico Department of Transportation
The additional road construction projects:
• Arizona Department of Transportation — Fourth Street Bridge over Interstate 40 (Quality of Life/Community Development, Small category): Safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians was improved with the $13.9 million widening of the Fourth
• North Dakota Department of Transportation — New Long X Bridge (Operations Excellence, Medium category—TIE): The $37 million Long X Bridge project in North Dakota replaced an old height-restricted truss bridge with a concrete girder bridge on U.S. 85.
• California Department of Transportation — S. Highway 50 Echo Summit Sidehill Viaduct Replacement Project (Best Use of Technology & Innovation, Small category): Caltrans deployed an innovative solution to replace a viaduct on U.S. 50 near Lake Taho
For the article, please go to: www.equipmentworld.com/better-roads/article/15114784/six-road-construction-projects-win-awards
ONLINE VOTING LINK through October 25, 2021 | 11:59 pm:
https://transportationawards.secure-platform.com/a/gallery?roundId=27