Four State Department Of Transportation Projects Honored

ALBANY, NY (12/21/2012)(readMedia)-- New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald today announced that the Associated General Contractors of New York State (AGC) has honored four department highway construction projects with awards for excellence.

"The New York State Department of Transportation works closely with our construction industry partners to ensure that all of our infrastructure improvement projects are efficient, effective and responsive to local transportation needs," Commissioner McDonald said. "I join with Governor Andrew Cuomo in thanking AGC for recognizing these projects and congratulate Department staff whose hard work resulted in these prestigious awards."

The awards were presented at AGC's annual construction industry conference on December 6 in Saratoga Springs. Three NYSDOT projects substantially completed this year received awards for excellence in partnering, highlighting overall project success and their contractors' abilities to embrace teambuilding, resolve conflicts and maintain project momentum. Those projects are the reconstruction of Washington Avenue Extension and Fuller Road in Albany, the reconstruction of I-287 at Westchester Avenue, Interchange 8, in White Plains, Westchester County, and the reconstruction of the Route 9A North Promenade at World Trade Center Road in Lower Manhattan.

A fourth project – the Lake Champlain Bridge – received the Jeffrey J. Zogg Build New York Award for overall excellence. That award honors projects that successfully met challenges through excellence in project management and safety, responsiveness to client needs, innovation in construction techniques, conquering unique circumstances and making an important contribution to the community. NYSDOT won the award with prime contractor Flatiron Construction and project designer HNTB.

The Lake Champlain Bridge connects Crown Point, New York, and Addison, Vt. It opened in November 2011 and was completed in less than two years, demonstrating the positive power of states, agencies, contractors and the public working together to achieve something remarkable. The project followed the emergency closure of the bridge in October 2009. Construction on the $76 million new structure began in June 2010 after the former structure was demolished in December 2009.

NYSDOT worked diligently with state and federal agencies, contractors, the State of Vermont and area residents to replace the bridge with an updated structure, one better able to accommodate modern traffic needs while maintaining the bridge's importance to the community and the visual landscape. The project was initially expected to be completed in 2017, but was instead finished in late 2011.

AGC honored NYSDOT with an Excellence in Partnering award for the reconstruction of I-287 at Westchester Avenue, Interchange 8, in White Plains, Westchester County. NYSDOT received the award along with ECCO III Enterprises, Inc.

This $53 million project reconfigured the interchange and parallel service roads, reconstructed two bridges over I-287 and constructed a new bridge over a highway ramp. The project was implemented with a renewed emphasis on partnering, including great attention to mutual problem solving, timely project completion and budget. Project partners – including NYSDOT, ECCO III, the New York State Thruway Authority, HAKS Engineers, WSP SELLS, Consolidated Edison, Verizon and El Paso Corp. – met regularly to address problems and develop timely solutions, with an eye toward keeping the project on schedule.

AGC honored NYSDOT with a second Excellence in Partnering award for the $272 million reconstruction of the Route 9A North Promenade at World Trade Center Road in Lower Manhattan. NYSDOT received the award along with Tully Construction and EE Cruz, a joint venture. Other partners include STV/URS, AECOM, and Stantec.

This extremely complex reconstruction project is adjacent to the World Trade Center and is part of multi-billion dollar efforts to rebuild Lower Manhattan after the attacks on 9-11-01. Even without a formal partnering agreement, the team reacted to the changing needs, schedules and designs of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other sensitive World Trade and World Financial Center stakeholders, such as the National 9-11 Memorial Museum. The team redesigned, restaged, and rescheduled NYSDOT work, performing contract work in 93 phases, rather than the originally planned 16. This new phasing allowed the team to add and expedite significant new work in support of the overall WTC effort, all without any contractor disputes.

Finally, AGC honored NYSDOT with an Excellence in Partnering Award for informal partnering on the reconstruction of Washington Avenue Extension and Fuller Road in Albany County. NYSDOT won the award along with Schultz Construction.

This was an $18 million project that reconfigured traffic on Fuller Road and Washington Avenue Extension at the west end of the City of Albany by installing a roundabout and building a flyover bridge to form a new, more efficient intersection. The project will support the rapid growth at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany. It was completed in partnership with the college, Albany County, and the Fuller Road Management Corporation. The project also reconstructed two miles of Washington Avenue and Washington Avenue Extension and part of Fuller Road, adding new sidewalks, a new 10-foot bicycle lane, and new bus bays on Washington Avenue Extension, which will provide safer stopping areas for riders, reduce congestion, and enhance transit use.

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