Expressway wins ACEC Pennsylvania Engineering Excellence Award

Pittsburgh, Pa. — The Mon/Fayette Expressway, Turnpike 43, Uniontown to Brownsville, won the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania (ACEC/PA) Grand Conceptor award in ACEC/PA's 2014 Diamond Awards for Engineering Excellence competition. The Grand Conceptor award is the top award of the competition, which recognizes outstanding achievements of Pennsylvania's engineering firms. Gannett Fleming served as design manager of the project.

With goals to improve traveler safety, relieve congestion, spur economic growth, protect viewsheds, and preserve the historic road and 20 nearby landmarks, the newly-constructed Uniontown to Brownsville section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike 43 – Mon/Fayette Expressway replaces this section of U.S. Route 40 as the primary route of travel in the region since opening in 2012.

Design and construction of the new 17-mile expressway required meticulous planning. Paramount to the project was the preservation of the local section of the National Road, which was the first major highway in the U.S. and remains a vestige of America's westward expansion, stretching from Cumberland, Md., to Vandalia, Ill.

The Grand Conceptor award was presented to the project team on Feb. 24, 2014, at the ACEC/PA Engineering Excellence Awards gala in Hershey, Pa.