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T.Y. Lin International Wins 2014 Grand Conceptor Award and National Recognition Awards from American Council of Engineering Companies

T.Y. Lin International Wins 2014 Grand Conceptor Award and National Recognition Awards from American Council of Engineering Companies

Awards
2014_ACEC_EEA

T.Y. Lin International (TYLI), a globally recognized full-service infrastructure consulting firm, announces that TYLI has received four 2014 Engineering Excellence Awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). TYLI’s Wacker Drive and Congress Parkway Reconstruction Project for the City of Chicago, one of the year’s eight ACEC Grand Award Winners, also received ACEC’s top honor, the 2014 Grand Conceptor Award for most outstanding engineering achievement of the year. Two additional TYLI projects were honored with 2014 ACEC Engineering Excellence National Recognition Awards: the Dan Ryan Red Line Track Reconstruction Project in Chicago and the New York Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation Project in Washington, D.C. ACEC’s annual Engineering Excellence Awards competition, which is considered the most prestigious awards program in the engineering industry, recognizes preeminent engineering accomplishments from around the world. TYLI and the firm’s project partners accepted the awards at ACEC’s Engineering Excellence Awards Gala on April 29, 2014 in Washington, D.C.

“We are deeply honored to have received the American Council of Engineering Companies’ Grand Conceptor Award for the Wacker Drive and Congress Parkway Reconstruction Project, as well as National Recognition Awards for the Dan Ryan Red Line Reconstruction and New York Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation projects,” said Alvaro J. Piedrahita, TYLI President and Chief Executive Officer. “It has been a privilege for T.Y. Lin International to have worked with the Chicago Department of Transportation, the Chicago Transit Authority, and the District Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. on such immense and important infrastructure projects.”

This is the second ACEC Grand Conceptor Award won by TYLI over the past three years. The firm received a Grand Conceptor Award in 2011 for its work on the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge Project, the highest and longest single span concrete arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

About the Wacker Drive and Congress Parkway Reconstruction Project, Chicago, IL - 2014 Grand Conceptor Award Winner

TYLI was responsible for Phase I Preliminary Design and Phase II Final Design Engineering for the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Wacker Drive and Congress Parkway Reconstruction Project. One of the City of Chicago’s most crucial roadways, the Wacker Drive Viaduct is a multiple-span reinforced concrete structure that carries six lanes of traffic over a lower level, four-lane mainline roadway and adjacent service drives. The upper level and lower level roadways serve as the main Loop Area distributor and collector roadways to and from three of the City’s busiest, high-capacity vehicle routes: the Eisenhower Expressway, the North Michigan Avenue business district, and Lake Shore Drive. In order to improve traffic flow, CDOT looked to TYLI to increase the vertical clearance on lower Wacker Drive; segregate lower Wacker Drive thru and service traffic; improve the functional operation of the Congress Parkway interchange; and provide additional green space in the interchange area. This roadway, bridge and tunnel project represented one of the most complicated ever completed by the City of Chicago, and involved complex staging to keep 60,000 vehicles and 150,000 pedestrians moving through the construction zone each day.

Dan Ryan Red Line Reconstruction Project, Chicago, IL - 2014 National Recognition Award

TYLI served as Project Design Oversight Lead and Designer of Record for Segment A of the Dan Ryan Red Line Track Reconstruction Project for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). The project consisted of the total reconstruction of 10.2 miles of double track and the rehabilitation of eight stations from 95th Street north to the 15th Street crossover. Prior to reconstruction, approximately 40% of the system segment was hobbled by slow zones. The majority of the rail corridor is also located in the middle of Chicago’s I-90/94 Dan Ryan Expressway. Given the project’s extremely aggressive schedule and access constraints, TYLI incorporated elements into the project that minimized long-term maintenance while considering installation methods that could be executed expeditiously. Major design elements included a new track bed, drainage system, ballast, ties, rail, third rail, and an extensive overhaul of the signal and communication system. Station improvements included architectural enhancements, construction of elevators at three stations, mechanical and plumbing repairs, lighting upgrades, and painting. The project, which opened to riders on October 20, 2013, now provides quicker trips, more frequent trains, and more reliable service for the quarter of a million commuters that utilize this portion of the Dan Ryan Red Line each day.

About New York Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation Project, Washington, D.C. - 2014 National Recognition Award

TYLI provided design and project management services on the New York Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation Project, which consisted of superstructure replacement and substructure rehabilitation of the existing West and East Bound bridge structures at New York Avenue, which were originally constructed in 1966. Because the crossing spans numerous rail lines operated by Amtrak, WMATA (DC Metro), CSX, MARC (regional commuter trains), and the Virginia Railway Express, and with concurrent improvement projects taking place on other District of Columbia roadways, it was crucial to limit traffic impacts on the already-congested New York Avenue corridor. The design-build project involved the demolition, removal, lowering and reconstruction of the twin-span New York Avenue bridge superstructure, rehabilitation of the piers, widening of existing abutments, the construction of two independent piers to support two gateway monuments, and overall improvements to the approach roadways, pedestrian sidewalks, and roadway lighting features.

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