OHIO — The Ohio Department of Transportation joined seven other departments in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota in winning awards in the 2022 America’s Transportation Awards competition.
The contest focused on projects benefitting communities in several ways including pedestrian facilities, biking facilities, safety along Lake Superior, moving necessary and lifesaving goods during emergencies and making travel safer through signal technologies.
“State DOTs are overwhelmingly focused on innovative solutions to address the transportation issues of today and tomorrow, meeting challenges involving climate change, equity, resiliency and safety,” said Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, in a news release. “The America’s Transportation Awards program shows just how they’re doing that. Whether on foot, in a vehicle, on two wheels, or by rail or transit, state DOTs are continuing to advance a safe, multimodal transportation system.”
The competition, sponsored by AAA, AASHTO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, serves as an opportunity to recognoze state’s DOTs and highlight projects. The nominations fall into three categories: Operations Excellence, Best Use of Technology & Innovation, and Quality of Life/Community Development.
All nominated projects will first compete on a regional level against projects of their own size: “Small” (projects costing up to $25 million), “Medium” (projects costing between $25 million and $200 million), and “Large” (projects costing more than $200 million).
In the Mid America Association of State Transportation Officials (MAASTO) region, eight states nominated 18 projects for this year’s competition. The following eight projects took home top regional honors in the 2022 America’s Transportation Awards contest:
· Minnesota Department of Transportation — Trunk Highway 61 Grand Marais Reconstruction (Quality of Life/Community Development, Small category)
· Michigan Department of Transportation — Interstate 75 Freeway and Interstate 75/M-46 Interchange Design-Build Project (Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium category—TIE)
· Ohio Department of Transportation — Opportunity Corridor Section 3 (Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium category—TIE)
· Iowa Department of Transportation & Illinois Department of Transportation — The Memorial Bridge (Interstate 74 Mississippi River Crossing) (Quality of Life/Community Development, Large category)
· All MAASTO States (nominated by Iowa Department of Transportation) — Emergency Divisible Load Management (Operations Excellence, Small category)
· Ohio Department of Transportation — Dorr Street Interchange and Widening of Interstate 475 (Operations Excellence, Medium category)
· Iowa Department of Transportation — Council Bluffs Interstate System Dual, Divided Freeway (Operations Excellence, Large category)
· Michigan Department of Transportation — Adaptive Signal Control Technologies in Traverse City (Best Use of Technology and Innovation, Small category)
To view the 2022 nominees and winners from AASHTO Transportation TV, click here.
From each regional competition, the top three highest-scoring projects earn a position of a “Top 12” list of projects competing for the national grand prize. The grand prize is selected by an independent panel of industry judges and the People’s Choice Award, chosen by the public.
The top national winners each receive $10,000 cash awards to be given to a charity or scholarship of the department’s choice.
Voting begins in September when the 12 finalists will be announced. AASHTO will reveal the winners for the People’s Choice Award and the Grand Prize this October at its 2022 Annual Meeting in Orlando.
To learn more about this year’s MAASTO nominees, click here.
