The American Council of Engineering Cos. (ACEC) has recognized the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and an engineering team from HNTB Corporation with a 2007 Engineering Excellence Award for its design of the Perry Street Bridge Replacement project in Napoleon, Ohio.
The project was honored with ACEC’s Grand Award in the structures category at its annual Awards Gala held in Washington, D.C., on May 8.
The project was recognized for its ability to meet four key goals as defined by ODOT and the community, including:
- The new bridge had to look exactly like the old bridge, with the same shape and same number of spans.
- Construction could not disturb the river bottom from April 15 to June 15 because of fish spawning.
- The new bridge had to be constructed in the same location the existing bridge occupied.
- The old bridge had to be demolished and replaced with the new bridge in a single year.
The Perry Street Bridge serves as the only access point to both sides of the Maumee River within six miles. HNTB was the lead design team that successfully delivered the $19.9 million project with minimal impacts to the community and traveling public, and within an aggressive nine-month schedule. The contractor was Bilfinger Berger Civil Inc. (formerly FruCon Construction Co.). E.L. Robinson Engineering Co. served as consulting engineer.
To meet these goals, the design team incorporated a unique combination of precast prestressed construction schemes, all of which have been used individually, but, to common knowledge, had never been used in this exact combination on a single project.
HNTB was one of only seven Grand Award winners out of 183 entries. This was HNTB’s second Grand Award in as many years, having been recognized in 2006 for its work on the design and construction of twin light rail transit (LRT) tunnels and the underground Lindbergh Terminal LRT station at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The national ACEC Engineering Excellence Award competition recognizes consulting engineering firms for projects that demonstrate a high degree of achievement, value and ingenuity. Projects completed all over the nation are rated on the basis of original or innovative application of new or existing technologies; future value to the engineering profession and perception by the public; social, economic and sustainable design considerations; complexity; and exceeding owner/client needs.
