At separate awards banquets held on April 30, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Replacement project received the American Society of Civil Engineer’s (ASCE) Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award for this year’s most outstanding project, and the South Bethany Tidal Pump won an American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE) Excellence in Environmental Engineering Honor Award.
The $2.4 billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement is one of the largest transportation projects ever undertaken in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region. The 40-year old bridge is a critical link in the Washington Metropolitan and Northeast United States regional transportation networks. Operational and structural deficiencies led to the design of a replacement structure—side-by-side, movable span, twin bridges—along with the reconstruction of four interchanges located along the bridge’s Maryland and Virginia approaches. KCI led the preliminary and final design team for the reconstruction of the I-495/I-95/MD 210 Interchange in Maryland, provided design support services for the I-95/US Route 1 interchange in Virginia and led environmental mitigation design efforts for the entire project. Project Manager Tim Kassir joined Division Chiefs Steve Drumm and Steve Carl in Washington, D.C., for the black-tie OPAL Awards Banquet, which also honored the lifetime achievements of several leaders in the civil engineering industry.
In contrast, the South Bethany Tidal Pump is a relatively small environmental project that uses a cutting-edge alternative energy technology to solve circulation problems in the canals of South Bethany, a small beach town in Delaware. Low water circulation in the canals has led to declining shellfish populations, fish kills and algae blooms. KCI helped the Town Council further evaluate and develop a concept originally designed by Lloyd Hughes, a former councilman and retired engineer. The tidal pump will harness tidal differential (the difference in tides between the canals and oceans) to push and pull water through more than two miles of underground pipes connecting the canals and the Atlantic. The movement of water will create circulation patterns in the canals. Division Chief Tim Wolfe, Group Manager Tom Sprehe and project manager Chris Overcash accepted the award for KCI along side Hughes and the Mayor of South Bethany.
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