California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dave Watts, chairman of the board for Watsonville, Calif.,-based Granite Construction Co. are the recipients of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association's (ARTBA) highest honor--the 2006 "ARTBA Award." The awards were presented May 8, during the ARTBA Federal Issues Program held in the nation's capital.
Established 46 years ago, the ARTBA Award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions that have advanced the broad goals of the association. Since 1972, the ARTBA Award has been presented annually to at least two individuals, one from the public sector and one from the private sector.
Previous ARTBA Award recipients have included two governors, more than two-dozen U.S. senators or representatives, two U.S. secretaries of transportation and dozens of other top leaders and executives from government and the private sector of the transportation construction industry.
The ARTBA selection committee cited Gov. Schwarzenegger's outstanding leadership in persuading the California legislature to place Proposition 1B on the November 2006 ballot and in building overwhelming public support for its passage. The nearly $20 billion bond package will provide significant new revenue to help California make important highway maintenance and safety improvements as well as expand the state's transportation network to meet the economic and quality of life challenges for the 21st century.
Dave Watts also was recognized for his leadership role in building construction industry and general public support for Proposition 1B. The Award Committee cited Watts' long-standing financial support of ARTBA's advocacy programs and his commitment over many years to "lending the intellectual capital" of Granite's top executives to help build a stronger transportation construction industry. Joe McGowan, Yale Lyman, Kent Marshall, Jim McGowan, Robert Dugan and Bill Mackey are among the Granite officials who have served as distinguished ARTBA volunteer leaders over many years.
