PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Transportation today announced that its Iway bridge-float has been ranked among the top 10 projects in the America’s Transportation Awards. The projects were chosen from among 41 regional winners nationwide.
Those “spectacular bridges, toll and access roads, innovative interchanges and interstates will now compete for the Grand National Prize – selected by a panel of community, business and transportation leaders – and the People’s Choice Award,” contest organizers said. The winner of the latter award will be determined via online voting that begins today and runs through Oct. 10.
The annual competition is co-sponsored by AAA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
“These awards highlight innovation, technology and transportation solutions that improve safety, relieve congestion, improve access to jobs or schools and enhance the quality of life in America today,” said AASHTO President Pete K. Rahn, the Missouri secretary of transportation.
The Rhode Island project – the transportation of the new Iway bridge from its construction site in North Kingstown, after the bridge was completed in 2006, to its final site outside the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier – advanced to the national competition after taking first place in the “Innovative Management” category at The Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials’ 2008 NASTO Annual Conference, held this June in Pittsburgh. (READ MORE) The floating of the $610 million bridge up Narraganset Bay, on two barges, was also featured on the History Channel’s “Mega Movers” documentary series.
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“The innovative approach in building the bridge off-site and floating it to Providence was the safest, most efficient means of constructing it,” DOT Director Michael P. Lewis has said of the project. “It was a great feat of engineering.”
“The business community depends on a safe, efficient and reliable transportation system,” added Janet Kavinoky, director of transportation and infrastructure for the U.S. Chamber. The America’s Transportation Awards program “honors exemplary transportation projects that stimulate interstate and international commerce,” she said.
Also in the running for the program’s top national awards are:
• California, for the The MacArthur Maze in San Francisco
• Florida, for its Open Road Tolling project in Miami-Dade County
• Kansas, for its Interstate 35 Interchange in Kansas City
• Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge
• Minnesota for the TH36 North St. Paul Reconstruction
• Mississippi for the St. Louis Bay Bridge at Bay St. Louis
• Pennsylvania for its Route 830 Airport Access project in Jefferson County
• Utah for its 4500 South Bridge Replacement in Salt Lake City
• Washington for its Tacoma Narrows Bridge project
The awards will be presented Oct. 10 at the AASHTO Annual Meeting in Hartford. The state that wins Grand National honor will also receive funds for a graduate-level education grant in transportation, while the People’s Choice winner will receive money toward a community service project to be named by that state’s transportation department.
“Americans cherish their freedom of mobility, and a safe, efficient transportation system makes that mobility possible,” said Kathleen F. Marvaso, AAA vice president of Public Affairs. “This award program showcases how quality transportation projects can make a positive contribution to meeting the mobility and safety needs of motorists.”
Information about the R.I. Department of Transportation and its Iway project is available at www.dot.ri.gov/projects/construction and www.PineappleStudios.com.
For more information about the America’s Transportation Awards program – including details of each of the projects selected as finalists – or to cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award, visit www.AmericasTransportationAward.org.
