2 Upstate engineering projects recognized at the 37th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) gala

The American Council of Engineering Companies of South Carolina (ACEC-SC) recognized the most innovative engineering projects of the past year at its 37th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) gala.

The esteemed awards recognize the people and companies behind the state’s most significant engineering accomplishments in every sector of the industry. Entries are rated on a variety of elements that factor into a project’s innovation and ultimate success, as well as its lasting impact on the public and the engineering profession. Industry leaders William J. Davis, Ph.D., P.E., Robert King, P.E., and Robert Mullen, Ph.D., P.E. served as the 2022 judges’ panel.

The panel presented HDR of North Charleston with the Palmetto Award, the program’s top honor, for its I-526 Wando River Bridge Tendon Repairs Project. HDR earned an additional state EEA, and, as one of the program’s top scoring projects, will advance to ACEC Nationals. Four other firms with high-scoring projects also earned a spot at ACEC Nationals.

HDR leveraged state-of-the-art technologies to reinstate the 75-year lifespan of the critical crossing, ensuring its service to the community for decades to come. The project spanned five years and consisted of three phases, the completion of which culminated with the installation of South Carolina’s first polyester polymer concrete overlay, permanently sealing the bridge from water and chloride penetration.

ACEC-SC Chair Matt Gehman of TranSystems emphasized the importance of projects like HDR’s I-526 Wando River Bridge Tendon Repairs as South Carolina continues to experience constant in-migration and economic growth.

“Large-scale engineering projects will continue to become more frequent and have an increasingly greater impact on the engineering profession and the public,” said Gehman. “The type of ingenuity required for endeavors like the I-526 bridge project demonstrates what our state needs more of as we face a steady rise in the population of an already overtaxed and underfunded infrastructure system.”

ACEC-SC Engineering Excellence Awards were presented to:

• Civil Engineering Consulting Services, Inc., South Carolina 153 Extension, Pickens County, SC;
• Infrastructure Consulting and Engineering, PLLC, US 21 Over Harbor River Bridge Replacement and 85-385 Gateway projects;
• Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc. (JMT), Low Battery Reconstruction Project – Phase 1, and Engineering Charleston’s Port Access Road.

Additional awards included the Small Firm Award, which was presented to Carolina Transportation Engineers & Associates, and the Excellence Awards, presented to the following:

• AECOM, Columbia’s Lake Katherine Sewer Upgrade;
• Buford Goff & Associates, The Virus Transmission Modes and Mitigation Strategies;
• Carolina Transportation Engineers & Associates, PC, Emergency Bridge Package 2020-1 DB;
• Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc., Spring Fishburne US 17 Drainage Improvements PRM;
• Mead & Hunt, Inc., SC 9 Through Historic Mill Village;
• Michael Baker International, Inc., Voter Registration Road & Parking Lot, Old Charleston Road Paving and SCDOT Bridge Load Rating Program;
• STV, Inc., Restricted Crossing U-Turn Intersection, and TranSystems, North Charleston: Parking Garage at Coliseum Complex.

About American Council of Engineering Companies of South Carolina

ACEC-SC advocates, advances, and protects the business interests of engineering firms and standards of the engineering profession in South Carolina. Learn more at https://acecsc.org/