“We’re excited about the high level of participation in this year’s competition,” says AASHTO Executive Director Bud Wright. “Transportation departments in the District of Columbia and 38 states submitted a record 92 project nominations. Not every nominee takes home a prize but the programs and projects being implemented and constructed across the country such as roads, bridges, bike and pedestrian trails are making communities safer, healthier and more prosperous, so the big winners are the American people.”
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the AAA motor club and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsor the America’s Transportation Awards program, which honors the best transportation projects in the categories of Quality of Life/Community Development, Best Use of Technology and Innovation and Operations Excellence. This is the tenth year of the program.
Finalists were selected from regional winners. The Southeastern regional winners were announced last week, the Mid America regional winners and Northeast regional winners of the America’s Transportation Awards were announced in July and the Western regional winners were named in June.
The 12 finalist projects include:
- Arkansas Department of Transportation’s Broadway Bridge over Arkansas River (Best Use of Technology & Innovation, Medium category)
- Colorado Department of Transportation’s US 36 Express Lanes (Best Use of Technology & Innovation, Large category)
- Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Reconstruction of the I-95/I-91/Route 34 Interchange (Quality of Life/Community Development, Large category)
- Idaho Transportation Department’s U.S. 20 Thornton Interchange (Best Use of Technology & Innovation, Small category)
- Indiana Department of Transportation’s Ohio River Bridges—East End Crossing (Quality of Life/Community Development, Large category)
- Iowa Department of Transportation’s Council Bluffs Interstate System Rail Relocation (Operations Excellence, Small category)
- Kansas Department of Transportation’s Johnson County Gateway Project (Operations Excellence, Large category)
- Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Ohio River Bridges: Downtown Crossing (Operations Excellence, Large category)
- Maine Department of Transportation’s Ogunquit Route 1 (Quality of Life/Community Development, Small category)
- Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s All Electronic Tolling Project (Best Use of Technology & Innovation, Medium category)
- Montana Department of Transportation’s Kalispell Bypass-U.S. 93 Alternate Route (Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium category)
- Virginia Department of Transportation’s I-66 Active Traffic Management System (Operations Excellence, Medium category)
The top 12 projects, which will be made up of the three highest-scoring projects from each region, will compete for the Grand Prize, selected by judges, and the People’s Choice Award, selected by online voting. These winners will receive $10,000 to be donated to a charity or scholarship of the winner’s choosing. The winners will be announced at AASHTO’s annual meeting Sept. 27 in Phoenix.
