Twelve finalists named for America’s Transportation Awards Grand Prize, People’s Choice Award

Updated Sep 17, 2016
The Port of Miami Tunnel Project took home the top award at the 2015 America’s Transportation Awards.The Port of Miami Tunnel Project took home the top award at the 2015 America’s Transportation Awards.

Twelve projects from 10 state departments of transportation have been named finalists in the 2016 America’s Transportation Awards competition. The projects will be considered for the Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award to be presented at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) annual meeting November 14 in Boston.

“From a record 84 nominated projects last spring, we’re down to 12 finalists competing to be called the very best transportation project in America,” says AASHTO Executive Director Bud Wright. “This competition shows the excellence in project delivery we see, year after year across the country and it demonstrates why the real winners are the American people. These multimodal projects are reducing congestion, improving safety and stimulating economic growth.”

AASHTO, the AAA motor club and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsor the program, which honors the best transportation projects in the categories of Quality of Life/Community Development, Best Use of Innovation and Under Budget. Projects are grouped by small (costing less than $25 million), medium (between $26 million and $199 million) and large (more than $200 million. The program is in its ninth year.

The finalists were selected from regional winners selected by the Southern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Mid America Association of Transportation Officials, Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials.

The 12 finalist projects include:

Colorado Department of Transportation

  • Best Use of Innovation category, medium project group: I-70 Mountain Express Lane project.
  • Under Budget category, medium project group: This project replaced six obsolete bridges along US 6 in Denver.

Connecticut Department of Transportation

  • Best Use of Innovation category, large project group: This project replaced the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in New Haven.

Florida Department of Transportation

  • Quality of Life/Community Development category, medium project group: This project replaced a bridge on Eller Drive over railroad tracks at Port Everglades in Broward County.

Idaho Department of Transportation

  • Quality of Life /Community Development category, small project group: This project improved travel conditions and access connecting Bannock Highway to South 5th Avenue, south of Pocatello.
  • Under Budget category, large project group: Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle Program, which accelerated the construction of several transportation projects across Idaho.

North Dakota Department of Transportation

  • Under Budget Category, small project group: This project rehabilitated the Sorlie Bridge that connects the cities of Grand Forks, N.D., to East Grand Forks, Minn.

Oregon Department of Transportation

  • Quality of Life/Community Development category, medium project group: Woodburn Interchange and Transit Facility Project on Interstate 5 in Woodburn.

South Dakota Department of Transportation

  • Best use of Innovation category, small project group: The Jackson Boulevard Phase II project reconstructed a section of Highway 44 in Rapid City.

Tennessee Department of Transportation

  • Best Use of Innovation category, medium project group: The “Fast Fix 8” project replaced eight bridges on Interstate 40 in downtown Nashville on an accelerated basis. The work was completed seven months ahead of schedule.

Texas Department of Transportation

  • Best Use of Innovation category, large project group: Lyndon B. Johnson Expressway project north of Dallas. This was the state’s largest public-private partnership, a five-year reconstruction of a portion of I-635 to relieve severe congestion partly by adding express toll lanes underneath the regular lanes.

Washington State Department of Transportation

  • Quality of Life/Community Development category, large project group: This project replaced a bridge and added high occupancy vehicle lanes on Route 520 across Lake Washington, east of Seattle.

The People’s Choice Award will be selected through public online voting at http://AmericasTransportationAwards.org open through October 31.