Drive tunnel project captures ACEC/MA award

WALTHAM, MASS. — The American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA) has recognized the Storrow Drive Tunnel Interim Repairs project with a Silver Award in its 2010 Engineering Excellence Competition. Storrow Drive is a major cross-town expressway in Boston, running south and west from Leverett Circle along the Charles River.

National engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. (SGH) was the project’s prime consultant and designer of repairs. Prior to designing the repairs, SGH also performed a comprehensive evaluation of the Storrow Drive tunnels using semi-destructive and non-destructive testing, including ground-penetrating radar, impact-echo and impulse-response techniques, and laboratory testing and petrographic examination of concrete cores.

The project included extensive concrete repairs and waterproofing improvements to the tunnels’ walls and roof to help extend the useful life of the nearly 60-year-old structures.

According to the ACEC/MA website (www.acecma.org), the annual Engineering Excellence Awards program recognizes engineering firms for projects that demonstrate a high degree of achievement, value and ingenuity.

For more information about Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., please visit www.sgh.com.