The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) announced six Excellence in Construction Awards for 2020 during the annual Contractor-Engineer Conference. Top winners include an asphalt paving project in Lincoln County, a concrete paving project in Outagamie County, a grading project in Kenosha County, a small bridge project in Jackson County, a large bridge project in Adams and Juneau counties and a large contract project in Dane County.
“Wisconsin is fortunate to have so many top-notch private contractors who help us complete vitally important transportation improvements across the state,” said Beth Cannestra, director of WisDOT’s Bureau of Project Development. “As valued private sector partners, they deserve praise for the quality of their work, and for embracing innovations that help us save time and money.”
- Adams and Juneau counties – The Excellence in Large Structures Award went to Lunda Construction Company, of Black River Falls, for construction of the WIS 82 Point Bluff Bridge over the Wisconsin River in Adams and Juneau counties. The former 17-span steel truss bridge was nearing the end of its life. The new structure is an 11-span bridge built adjacent to the old structure, eliminating the need for a long detour. A significant cost savings to the project was achieved by using Pile Dynamic Analyzer testing to reduce the length of piling needed for the project, resulting in a savings of $846,000. Despite being a complex and challenging multi-year project, the contractor completed the project early and under budget.
- Dane County – Integrity Grading & Excavating Corporation, of Verona , received the Large Contract Award for their work on the US 18/151 Verona Road Stage 2 and Stage 3 projects, from County PD to Raymond Road in Dane County. The project reconstructed and expanded the Verona Road corridor to provide six lanes and a new single-point urban interchange at County PD. The project included two new structures, more than 350,000 cubic yards of earthwork, storm sewers, concrete barrier walls, retaining walls, new traffic signals and lighting. The contractor worked closely with WisDOT, surrounding communities and businesses to construct the project in this busy, urban corridor while maintaining traffic volumes of 60,000 vehicles per day.
- Jackson County – The Excellence in Small Structures Award went to Lunda Construction, of Black River Falls, for construction of the US 12 bridge over Allen Creek in Jackson County. The project involved replacing an 8-foot by 17-foot stone arch culvert, built in 1884, with a new 110-foot single span structure, which greatly improved the creek’s ability to flow under US 12. The new bridge had technical challenges and details which Lunda worked through to deliver an exceptional finished product on time and on budget.
- Kenosha County – The Excellence in Grading Award went to Hoffman Construction, of Black River Falls, for the reconstruction of County F from County O to 352nd Avenue in Kenosha County. This project constructed a new, mile-long off-alignment section of County F to improve safety at two county road intersections while also improving horizontal and vertical curves along the route. Hoffman was able to overcome numerous project challenges to complete to project on budget and ahead of schedule.
- Lincoln County – The Excellence in Asphalt Award went to Northeast Asphalt, of Green Bay, for a full pavement replacement of 8.6 miles of US 51 southbound between Tomahawk and Minocqua. Northeast’s persistence and problem-solving led to a high-quality road surface and project completion 2.5 months ahead of schedule.
- Outagamie County – The Excellence in Concrete Paving Award went to Vinton Construction, of Two Rivers, for work on a 1.5-mile section of County CA in the town of Grand Chute in Outagamie County. Vinton used optimized concrete mix designs, which helped save more than 240 tons of cementitious materials while still providing an outstanding pavement.
Images of the award-winning projects are available here: https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/awards/dtsdca.aspx.
