NYSDOT Wins Regional Award For Route 110/LIE Project

ALBANY, NY (06/09/2011)(readMedia)-- The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) this week received an America's Transportation Award from the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials (NASTO) in recognition of the $27.9 million New York Route 110/Interstate 495 (Long Island Expressway) interchange reconstruction project in Suffolk County. The project won in the On Time – Medium Project category.

"This project is a prime example of the type of innovative solutions that use taxpayer dollars efficiently and effectively, while providing sound, safe transportation infrastructure improvements," NYSDOT Commissioner Joan McDonald said. "I am proud that this excellent project, located in the heart of one of Long Island's largest business districts, has been recognized by our peers as being an outstanding model of what good transportation investments should look like."

Commissioner McDonald accepted the award during a ceremony Tuesday.

The project reconstructed the twin NY Route 110 bridge spans over the Long Island Expressway in Melville, eliminating a major bottleneck in the vital business corridor by improving clearance for trucks and providing three full travel lanes in each direction on NY Route 110.

A critical savings in construction time was achieved by working on both bridges at the same time. This required the simultaneous closing of both pedestrian walkways. In order to accommodate pedestrians, NYSDOT established a free taxi service across the bridge. This sort of innovative approach enabled the project to be opened to traffic one year earlier than originally planned at a substantial savings in taxpayer funds.

The competition, sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), American Automobile Association, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, honored state department of transportation projects from the northeastern region. The transportation projects were judged according to their size in three categories: "Innovative Management;" "On Time" completion; and "On Budget" construction.

This year, 40 projects were submitted by 29 states across the country. The projects are judged within one of four transportation regions and the 10 best projects will vie for the national Grand Prize and the People's Choice Awards. Both awards will be presented at the AASHTO 2011 annual meeting in Detroit, Michigan in October. To get more information, visit www.americastransportationaward.org.

In 2010, a $23 million project to reconstruct U.S. Route 62 and State Route 391 in Hamburg, Erie County, was a Top 10 finalist in the competition as the Innovative Management, Small Project winner. In 2009, a New York State project to reconstruct the Interstate 86 interchange in Corning, Steuben County, was a Top 10 finalist in the competition's "On Budget: Enhancing Value" category.