For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lily Berman, Marketing Director
(312) 228-0100
lberman@bbandainc.com
Chicago Engineering Firm Wins Top Award
Chicago, IL – March 3, 2009 – Forty-Six Illinois firms were recognized for excellence in engineering before an audience of over 400 engineers, clients and government officials at an Awards Luncheon held February 13, 2009 at The Drake Hotel, Chicago. The firms were recognized for award-winning engineering projects in the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois' Thirty-Eighth Annual Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. The competition recognizes outstanding projects designed by private practice engineering firms from the State of Illinois.
Bowman, Barrett & Associates, Inc. of Chicago was part of the project team that received the highest award presented, the Eminent Conceptor, for their "F.A.I. I-94/90 (Dan Ryan Expressway) Reconstruction Project"project, located in Illinois and designed for the Illinois Department of Transportation. The Eminent Conceptor Award "recognizes an engineering achievement which demonstrates a high degree of merit and ingenuity, contributes to the advancement of the private practice of engineering and enhances the economic and social welfare of the general public". The Eminent Conceptor Award was chosen from twelve engineering firms who received Honor Awards. A brief description of the project follows:
The Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94/90) is one of the world's busiest interstate systems carrying more than 330,000 vehicles per day. It is a vital transportation link between downtown Chicago and a number of other interstate freeway routes.
The $825M reconstruction project was well conceived by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), then organized, and executed by a large dedicated team of public agencies, private companies, and determined individuals. Key objectives were to rebuild with extended-life pavement, reduce congestion, improve safety, and create an aesthetically pleasing freeway corridor.
Major elements of reconstruction included:
- Reconstruction / expansion of 14 to 16 traffic lanes
- Reconstruction / reconfiguration of 21 cross-street interchanges
- Rehabilitation of the dual High Bridge viaducts
- Installation of storm sewer collection, storage, and conveyance systems
- 89 retaining walls
- Expressway signing and lighting
The project was constructed over five years and consisted of 120 separate construction contracts.
Bowman, Barrett & Associates Inc. is a full service engineering firm founded by Louis Bowman and John Barrett in 1989. With over 75 professionals on staff, BB&A provides planning, design, and construction management services for airports, buildings, highways, and railroads.