Bridgefarmer & Associates, Inc., of Dallas, Texas, has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 47th annual Engineering Excellence Awards for Loop 12/SH 114 Interchange Project in Irving, Texas.
The four-level interchange is the first in Texas to integrate a state highway and a light rail line within the same right-of-way, and combining highways, light rail, bicycle and pedestrian traffic creating a true multi-modal facility. The constrained site and close proximity of underground utilities required 33 multiple complex retaining walls, and prompting the project team to incorporate an entirely new application for pre-stressed concrete—as retaining wall fascia. Work was carefully coordinated with the concurrent construction of the DART Orange Line station to minimize disruptions to the more than 200,000 vehicles passing through the area daily.
Founded in 1976, Bridgefarmer & Associates is an internationally recognized engineering firm specializing in transportation projects.
All 146 National Recognition Award winners will be honored as preeminent 2013 engineering achievements at the black-tie Engineering Excellence Awards Gala—known as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”—to be held Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at The Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. Each award winner is also eligible for one of EEA’s top 24 awards—16 Honor Awards, 8 Grand Awards and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement.
Judging for the top awards took place in February, conducted by a nationwide panel of more than 30 engineers, architects, government representatives, media members, and academics. Awards criteria included uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, complexity, and success in enhancing the practice of engineering. All top award winners will be announced shortly before the Gala, except the Grand Conceptor Award winner—which is chosen from the eight Grand Award winners and only revealed the night of the Gala.