/ Awards / I-83 EXIT RECONSTRUCTION CITED IN NATIONAL ENGINEERING COMPETITION

I-83 EXIT RECONSTRUCTION CITED IN NATIONAL ENGINEERING COMPETITION

Parul Dubey on March 25, 2022 - in Awards, News

Innovative Design Benefits Both Motorists and Turtles

WASHINGTON, DC – Gannett Fleming of Camp Hill, Pa., has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 55th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for designing the reconstruction of Exit 4 on Interstate 83 in Shrewsbury, Pa.

Gannett Fleming’s design replaced the existing diamond interchange with an innovative diverging diamond configuration that allows direct left turns from off-ramps onto PA 851 and from PA 851 to on-ramps onto I-83, thereby eliminating backups. Direct left turns cut the number of intersection conflict points in half, which is expected to reduce the crash rate by more than 40 percent. The new interchange has only two phases per traffic signal cycle instead of three, allowing more green time per cycle and improving traffic flow.

Replacement of an original culvert as part of the project required accommodating the critically endangered bog turtle, found in the nearby Deer Creek Watershed. The project team designed a new 12×11-ft box culvert that incorporates a more natural streambed material not found in the original structure. After a bog turtle specialist surveyed the project area to relocate any turtles within the work area, the project team installed temporary fencing for added protection from the construction activities.

The project is part of 195 entries this year representing engineering excellence from throughout the nation and the world. Judging for the awards program—known industry-wide as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”– took place in February and was conducted by a national 27-member panel of built environment leaders, along with experts from government, the media and academia. Award criteria focused on uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.

Recognition of all award winners including top winners—20 Honor Awards, 16 Grand Awards and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement—will take place during the 2022 EEA Gala, to be held in Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

 

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is the business association of America’s engineering industry, representing more than 5,200 independent engineering firms and more than 600,000 professionals throughout the United States engaged in the development of America’s transportation, water and energy infrastructure, along with environmental, industrial and other public and private facilities. Founded in 1906 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., ACEC is a national federation of 52 state and regional organizations.

 

Comments are disabled