Innovative infrastructure projects across the United States earn industry accolades.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (December 13, 2024) Five HNTB projects were honored by Roads & Bridges on its 2024 Top 10 Bridges and Top 10 Roads lists. The Top 10 Awards recognize the leading projects in North America. Each year, nominations are submitted to the Roads & Bridges editorial staff, which determines the Top 10 lists based on project challenges, impact to a project’s region and scope of work. The winning projects were announced in the November/December award issue.
HNTB’s 2024 Honorees
Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge, No. 1 Bridge
HNTB served as lead designer for the Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge Replacement on behalf of the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT). The new, long-span bridge, restores a vital connection between Madawaska, Maine, and Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada and was completed on time and within budget in just four years. The bridge significantly enhances the flow of goods and services across the international border.
The new six-span, steel girder bridge, built on a new alignment 1,400 feet upstream from the existing bridge, reaches 1,840 feet. It features wider 12-foot travel lanes, 6-foot-wide shoulders on each side and a raised 6-foot-wide sidewalk on the downstream side to facilitate the safe movement of pedestrians and cyclists and other forms of transport, including ATVs and snowmobiles. It is designed for a 100-year service life.
Complete 540, No. 1 Road
HNTB served as general engineering consultant for the Complete 540 project on behalf of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority. The new expressway extension supports ongoing development and improves mobility in the region around Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  This phase of the Complete 540 project features nine bridges, 11 concrete box culverts, more than 2.5 miles of aesthetic brick noise walls and a diverging diamond interchange (DDI). By reducing conflict points, the DDI significantly enhanced safety and improved traffic flow, a vital consideration given projections that the highway would soon carry 50,000 vehicles daily.
West Davis Corridor, No. 2 Road
As the project’s prime consultant, HNTB collaborated with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to design the southernmost five-mile section of the West Davis Corridor. The corridor includes a system interchange featuring Utah’s longest-span bridge with integral bents—a type of support that distributes the forces and ensures stability in the bridge structure. Soft soils and high groundwater required several geotechnical innovations to construct the project’s 40 structures and the freeway-to-freeway and service interchanges. The design and reconfiguration of these interchanges provide more direct connections to nearby roadways and multi-modal pedestrian trails. The new 16-mile, four-lane West Davis Highway (SR-177) design-build project connects the growing communities to major highways and is expected to reduce travel delays by 30%.
Northaven Trail Bridge, No. 3 Bridge
Serving as engineer-of-record and construction phase services provider, HNTB collaborated with the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) and the city of Dallas to deliver the Northaven Trail Bridge. A prime example of innovation within the industry, the pedestrian bridge spans across the busy, eight-lane U.S. 75 and rests between two highly trafficked systems of local walking/biking trails. The structure reduces barriers to alternative methods of transportation and offers a safe, new connection to regional recreational activities.
To support TXDOT’s mission to deliver the bridge while minimizing closures and sustaining highway mobility, HNTB worked to design a bridge that would enable accelerated bridge construction (ABC). The bridge is the only known network-tied arch bridge with a doubly-curved deck and skewed supports. With a structural weight of 800,000 pounds, it’s designed to withstand a pedestrian load of approximately one person per square-foot of bridge deck, or approximately 445,000 pounds.
Innovate Mound, No. 5 Road
HNTB served as the program manager for the Macomb County Department of Roads’ Innovate Mound project, overseeing all aspects of the reconstruction project’s planning, design, cost management, scheduling and construction oversight. The project involved reconstructing nine miles of Mound Road, adding a fourth lane in each direction, new concrete pavement, updated drainage systems, curbs, driveways and optimized traffic signals. This was the County’s first design-build project, combining design and construction teams to work together, marking a significant milestone in the county’s infrastructure development.
ABOUT HNTB CORPORATION
For more than a century, HNTB Corporation has been at the forefront of designing and advancing transportation infrastructure that enhances mobility and improves local communities. With client relationships spanning decades, we understand infrastructure life cycles and have perspective and experience to solve the most complex technical, financial and operational challenges with vision and imagination. As employee owners committed to excellence, we prioritize client success while delivering a full spectrum of infrastructure-related services. Discover HNTB’s Spark at www.hntb.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook or Instagram.