AASHTO Journal, 7 August 2015
Eight infrastructure projects from states in the Southeast took prizes in the latest regional contest for the 2015 “America’s Transportation Awards” competition.
The winners were projects by state departments of transportation in Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, and a bridge project Kentucky shared with Indiana.
The annual competition is co-sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the AAA motor club and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to recognize the nation’s best state DOT projects or programs in four regional competitions.
Other regional winners have been named for the Northeast and West, and awards will soon be announced for the Midwest.
Soon, 10 prize winners from four U.S. regions that have the highest overall scores will compete for a national Grand Prize and a People’s Choice Award. Those include $10,000 cash prizes for the two national winners to give to transportation-related charities or scholarship programs.
Those winners will be announced in September at the AASHTO Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.
More information about the competition and its transportation projects is available at the awards website.
John Cox, AASHTO’s 2015 president and director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation, said the projects this competition highlights show that “ultimately it’s the American people who are the big winners” in how the state agencies do their jobs. “These projects are a small example of how state DOTs are saving taxpayer dollars while building innovative projects to meet community needs.”
Here is a glimpse at the latest regional winners:
“Best Use of Innovation” category
-The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department won for a small-sized project, for a $13.23 million effort at its Don Tyson Parkway Interchange.
-The medium project winner was the $103 million joint effort of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Indiana DOT to replace the Milton-Madison Bridge that connects those states over the Ohio River.
-Florida’s DOT took the large project award for its $666 million Port of Miami Tunnel that provided a direct freight traffic link between the Port of Miami and the area’s interstate highway system.
“Under Budget” category
-The Florida DOT took the large project award for its work on a $1.22 billion I-595 Corridor.
-The North Carolina DOT won the medium project prize for a $92 million I-485/85 interchange in Charlotte.
-The small project award went to South Carolina’s DOT for a $3.5 million Cypress Gardens Road Bridge.
“Quality of Life/Community Development” category
-The Arkansas HTD’s $25.2 million State Aid Street Program won the medium project designation.
-The South Carolina DOT took the small project prize for its $4.5 million Assembly Street Improvements.