The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has announced the 12 winning transportation projects from four regional competitions that will battle it out in this year’s America’s Transportation Awards competition.
Sponsored by AASHTO, AAA, and the US Chamber of Commerce, the 12th America’s Transportation Awards competition attracted 81 project nominations from 39 state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) this year. The three highest-scoring projects from each of four regional contests earned a place in the ‘Top 12’ national finals, competing for the national Grand Prize and the People’s Choice Award. Both prizes come with US$10,000 cash awards for a charity or transportation-related scholarship of the winners’ choosing at stake. The competition evaluates projects in three categories: Quality of Life/Community Development; Best Use of Technology & Innovation; and Operations Excellence. The projects are also divided into three sizes: small (less than US$25m); medium (US$25m to US$200m); and large (more than US$200m).
An independent panel of transportation industry experts will select the Grand Prize winner, while the general public will decide the People’s Choice Award winner through online voting. Online votes will be weighted to each state’s population, allowing for greater competition between states with larger and smaller populations. The winners will be announced at the AASHTO Annual Meeting in St. Louis on October 8. Online voting has already started and ends on October 6. Individuals can cast no more than one vote per day.
The Top 12 projects are:
Best Use of Technology & Innovation –
North Carolina DOT – UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) Hurricane Florence Response – Small category;
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) – Highway 1/Mud Creek Emergency Restoration – Medium category;
Washington State DOT – I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project, Phases 1 and 2A – Large category.
Wisconsin DOT – Zoo Interchange Core and Adjacent Arterials – Large category.
Operations Excellence –
Connecticut DOT – I-84 Waterbury Widening Project – Large category;
Georgia DOT – Northwest Corridor Express Lanes – Large category.
Quality of Life/Community Development –
Pennsylvania DOT – PennDOT Connects/Connecting Communities – Small category;
Maryland DOT – Dover Bridge Project – Medium category;
Ohio DOT – I-71 & Martin Luther King Jr. Interchange – Medium category;
Florida DOT – SunRail Southern Expansion – Large category;
Missouri and Illinois DOTs – Improvements for Downtown City of St. Louis – Large category;
Texas DOT – US 290 Reconstruction from I-610 to Beltway 8 – Large category.
“These final projects are just a small sampling of the many ways in which state DOTs are making communities safer and supporting economic development,” said Jim Tymon, AASHTO’s executive director. “Whether deploying innovations to save time and money or exploring strategies to move more people and goods, state DOTs are delivering projects and programs that create a more efficient transportation system for the movement of goods and services.”
To learn more about the nominated projects and vote for your favorite, go to: www.AmericasTransportationAwards.org
