In celebration of Colorado Engineers Week (Feb. 18-24), the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado (ACEC Colorado) is announcing this year’s Colorado Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) recipients that include 22 design and research projects completed by 16 different Colorado consulting engineering firms.
ACEC Colorado’s EEA competition is annually held between June to October to recognize Colorado consulting engineering firms for engineering design and research that demonstrate an exceptional degree of innovation, complexity, achievement and value. Eligible projects include those delivered to public or private clients for a range of consulting engineering services, including transportation, structural systems, water resources, building technology systems, environmental consulting, studies and energy. This state competition closely follows entry guidelines established by ACEC National, which invites recipients of Colorado’s Grand Conceptor and Excellence Awards to enter the EEA competition, held in June in Washington, D.C.
The 2024 Grand Conceptor Award, representing the highest honor, was awarded to RS&H (Denver) for the Central Interstate Highway 70 project. This $1.2B design-build project has improved transportation facilities and connectivity of the adjacent residential communities of Swansea and Elyria in Denver and their 1,200 businesses. RS&H provided construction assessment and independent assurance testing services as a prime consultant, with staff responsible for overseeing the quality program of the contractor, facilitating and documenting progress meetings, resolving disputes, and mitigating claims.
The competition’s next highest honors, Excellence Awards, were presented to:
- Interstate Highway 25 South Gap (Monument to Castle Rock) by RockSol Consulting Group, Inc. (Thornton);
- Northwest (NW) Iowa Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Site Design (Doon, Iowa) by Merrick & Company (Greenwood Village);
- Pueblo Community Health East Side Clinic (Pueblo) by Farnsworth Group, Inc. (Greenwood Village);
- University of Colorado Health Anschutz Inpatient Pavilion 3 (Aurora) by Martin/Martin, Inc. (Lakewood).
Next, Honor Awards were presented to:
- Cherry Creek Corridor Improvement Project (Quebec Street to Iliff Avenue, Denver) by Muller Engineering Company (Lakewood);
- Colorado State Highway 7 (Lower) Permanent Repair (Colorado State Highway 72 to Lyons) by RS&H (Denver);
- Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport Redevelopment (Gunnison) by ME Engineers (Golden);
- Localized Climate Mapping & Equity Initiative (Boulder) by Stanley Consultants (Centennial);
- National Renewable Energy Lab Controllable Grid Interface-2 (Golden) by The RMH Group, Inc. (Lakewood);
- Paul M. Rady, Computer Science & Engineering Building (Gunnison) by Farnsworth Group, Inc. (Greenwood Village);
- Q’anápsu Dispensary (Ridgefield, Wash.) by JVA, Incorporated (Boulder); and
- SPUR HYDRO Building (Denver) by Martin/Martin, Inc. (Lakewood).
Merit Awards were presented to:
- 30th Street Corridor (Colorado Springs) by Felsburg Holt & Ullevig (Colorado Springs);
- Colorado State Highway 470 Trail Over Yosemite Pedestrian Bridge (Lone Tree) by Wilson & Company (Colorado Springs);
- City of Aurora Neighborhood Traffic Calming (Aurora) by Stolfus & Associates, Inc. (Greenwood Village);
- Colorado State University Women’s Softball & Soccer Complex (Fort Collins) by Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc. (Greenwood Village);
- Dillon Road/West 144th Avenue Multimodal Corridor (Broomfield) by Muller Engineering Company (Lakewood);
- Fountain Mesa Roundabout (Fountain, Colo.) by HR Green, Inc. (Greenwood Village);
- High Plains Trail (Arapahoe County) by Stanley Consultants (Centennial);
- Mile High Greyhound Park Redevelopment (Commerce City) by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. (Greenwood Village); and
- Northglenn Lift Station A & Force Main (Northglenn) by Providence Infrastructure Consultants, Inc. (Littleton).
Finally, Merrick & Company (Greenwood Village) was honored with an additional Outstanding Project Board Award for graphic design of the display board representing its work on NW Iowa RNG Site Design (Doon, Iowa).
For more than 50 years, Colorado firms have entered their most innovative design and research projects into the ACEC Colorado EEA competition. This year’s awards judges included representatives from architecture, engineering, construction, education and an industry-related nonprofit. On Nov. 9, 2023, nearly 200 guests attended an awards ceremony at Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center when the award winners were initially announced. A video about each project is viewable on ACEC Colorado’s YouTube Channel at bit.ly/acec-co-eea24videos and more details about the competition are available at acec-co.org/awards/engineering-excellence-awards/
