Gresham Smith Projects Honored with ACEC Tennessee Awards
Four Gresham Smith-designed projects were honored with awards at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Tennessee’s 2021 Engineering Excellence Awards program. The firm took home three Honor Awards in the Transportation category for the LeConte Event Center Paver Parking Lot and Pedestrian Bridge, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Highway System Access Manual and I-40 Widening and Interchange Expansion in Jackson, and one Honor Award in the Waste and Storm Water category for the Guam Water Works Authority Route 3 Interceptor Sewer Rehabilitation project. The project teams accepted their awards at ACEC Tennessee’s Gala on November 5th at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.
“Gresham Smith is honored to consistently win awards from ACEC Tennessee’s awards program,” said Al Pramuk, chairman and CEO, Gresham Smith. “These projects were truly team efforts, and we thank our clients for their continuous support. This awards program is an important recognition of the ways engineering can impact communities, especially in Tennessee, and it’s an honor to be recognized by peers in our industry for our creative solutions.”
The City of Pigeon Forge hired Gresham Smith to engineer a plan to deliver a new 2,000-space parking lot with an accessible 600-foot pedestrian to the existing Event Center. Construction of the LeConte Event Center Paver Parking Lot and Pedestrian Bridge was completed in December 2020, and the end result is a parking facility and pedestrian bridge that complements the aesthetics of the built environment and provides an open connection for the community.
TDOT sought improvements to their existing access management standards and called on Gresham Smith to create the department’s Highway System Access Manual. The manual enhances the department’s current standards by providing guidance for access management that promotes the safe and efficient movement of people and goods as well as reduced traffic congestion, improving the quality of life for all roadway users.
With the aim of improved safety and access for residents and commuters along a busy section of I-40 near Jackson, Gresham Smith delivered a critical widening and interchange reconstruction design project for TDOT. Opened to the public in June, the I-40 Widening and Interchange Reconstruction project features a widening of a 2.9-mile section of 1-40 from four to six lanes, two new bridges and new auxiliary lanes.
To meet the needs of recent population growth in the island’s northern district, as well as the upcoming relocation of 5,000 deployed U.S. Marines and their families to Guam’s new military base, Guam Waterworks Authority needed to restore aging sewer infrastructure. Working as a sub-consultant, Gresham Smith overcame Guam’s remote location, tropical climate and a tight schedule to engineer the single largest ultraviolet light cured-in-place pipe interceptor rehab project in the United States.
Additional winning projects recognized in by ACEC Tennessee in previous Engineering Excellence Awards programs include I-40 Fast Fix 8 Accelerated Bridge Construction project in Nashville, TDOT I-40/SR-66 diverging diamond interchange (DDI) in Sevierville Division Street Extension Bridge in Nashville, Bowling Green Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Lower Big Haynes Regional Pumping System in Georgia’s Gwinnett County and KUB’s Second Creek Wastewater Storage Facility in Knoxville, Tennessee.
