Engineering Excellence Awards showcase worlds best engineering efforts

Washington, D.C. — The new 2.2-mile San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span, with a revolutionary seismic design, claimed the 2015 Grand Conceptor Award — the engineering industry’s top prize for excellence — at the annual Engineering Excellence Awards, sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).

More than 600 attended the black-tie Engineering Excellence Awards Dinner and Gala in Washington, D.C. The Gala recognized 170 preeminent engineering accomplishments from throughout the world.

Designed by the joint venture of T.Y. Lin International and Moffatt & Nichol, the new bridge is the world’s longest single-tower, self-anchored suspension bridge, the world’s widest bridge, and was devised to withstand the most powerful earthquake that can be predicted in a 1,500-year period.

The superstructure showcases groundbreaking bridge design such as a 525-foot-tall tower with separate steel legs that move independently and serve as giant shock absorbers during an earthquake to avoid major damage to the main bridge structure. The project also includes a 1.2-mile-long, twin-viaduct skyway consisting of specially designed expansion joints that allow structure segments to move and slide several feet, also preventing major damage during a seismic event. 

With its visually striking design, the new East Span is now an iconic and seismically resilient landmark that  ensures the safety of more than 300,000 vehicles each day. 

The new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span also joins the Wacker Drive/Congress Parkway Reconstruction (Chicago, 2014); Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, (Kansas City, 2013); Lake Borgne Storm Surge Barrier (New Orleans, 2012) and Hoover Dam Bypass (2011) as recent Grand Conceptor Award winners.

Other Top 2015 Winners for Engineering Excellence were:

Grand Awards

• Barium/Radium Removal Pre-treatment System, Gilberts, Ill., by Baxter & Woodman, Inc.
• World Trade Center 7: Collapse Analysis and Assessment, New York, by Weidlinger Associates, Inc.
• Designing a City for Zero Stormwater Discharge, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., by Emmons & Olivier Resources, Inc.
• Division 9 Irrigation Enhancement Project, Manteca, Calif., by Stantec;
• Denver Union Station Transit Center Improvements, Denver, by AECOM;
• Fulton Center, New York, by Arup; and
• Niagara Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Ontario, by Hatch Mott MacDonald.

Honor Awards

• One World Trade Center, New York, by Jaros, Baum & Bolles;
• Milton Madison Bridge Replacement, Milton, Ind., by Buckland & Taylor, (COWI);
• New I-70 Mississippi River Bridge & Corridor, St. Louis, by HNTB Corporation; AECOM; exp U.S. Services, Inc.; and Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc.;
• Manhattan West's Platform over the West Side Rail Yard, New York, by Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers;
• Southwest University Park, El Paso, Texas, by Walter P Moore;
• Agua Nueva Water Reclamation Facility, Tucson, Ariz., by CH2M HILL;
• West Side Diversion Tunnel, Davenport, Iowa, by Stanley Consultants;
• Washington Route 530 Emergency Roadway Reconstruction, Oso, Wash., by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.; GeoEngineers, Inc.; and Site Development Associates;
• Port of Miami Tunnel, Miami, Fla., by Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.;
• Sava Bridge and Approach Roads, Belgrade, Serbia, by Louis Berger;
• Superstorm Sandy Repair & Rehabilitation – Montague Tunnel, New York, by Parsons Brinckerhoff/Parsons Transportation Group;
• Santa Teresa Terminal, Santa Teresa, N.M., by Wilson & Company, Inc.;
• Spring Skate Park and Dylan Park, Houston, by Klotz Associates, Inc.;
• Provo Temple Underpinning, Provo, Utah, by GEI Consultants, Inc.;
• San Ysidro U.S. Land Port of Entry Modernization, San Ysidro, Calif., by Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Inc.; and
• Asymmetric Warfare Training Center, Fort A.P. Hill, Va., by Mason & Hanger (Div. of Day & Zimmerman).