COWI wins ACEC Florida Engineering Excellence Grand Award for Wekiva Parkway project

COWI in North America’s Wekiva Parkway Section 6 is among 11 engineering projects that will soon be honored with the American Council of Engineering Companies of Florida (ACEC-FL) Engineering Excellence Grand Award. Wekiva Parkway Section 6 has also been designated as one of the top finalists to enter the national competition sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).

COWI delivered the project for the Florida Department of Transportation, working with the design- build team Superior Construction Company and WGI, Inc.

The award-winning project

The three signature bridges of the Wekiva Parkway Section 6 are located over Central Florida’s treasured Wekiva River near Orlando, Florida. This $235M design-build project includes three new cast-in-place segmental bridges with span lengths of (260’, 360’, 260’) built in balanced cantilever.

COWI was the Engineer of Record and the Construction/Specialty Engineer for the three bridges. COWI’s scope included the cofferdam, pier table falsework design, end-span falsework design, and form traveler design review. These highly aesthetic bridges are designed to blend into the natural surroundings of the Wekiva’s scenic wetlands. To minimize impacts to the river and surrounding area, bridges were being constructed using a top-down construction method. This includes limiting impacts to the river, trees, and approach sections and construction of wildlife bridges totaling 23,000 feet in length and maintaining the recreational value of the river during construction.