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By Amy Grothaus, Awards Committee

The 2013 Fall Conference Awards program was extremely successful, thanks to the great nominations made by our chapter members.  

As determined by the Awards Committee, two exceptional projects were recognized this year; the City of River Falls, Wisc., for the Cascade Avenue Reconstruction and Hennepin County for the Lowry Avenue Bridge Project.

Cascade Avenue Reconstruction Project
Accepting the award on behalf of River Falls, whose project team included Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. (SEH) and Haas Sons Inc., was Reid Wronski, River Falls director of public works and city engineer. 

Rather than reconstructing the Cascade Avenue into a configuration similar to the existing conditions, leaders from the City of River Falls, University of River Falls Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation embarked on a combined effort to identify and address problems and concerns associated with the original configuration. Plans were developed for a new roadway that would better serve the wide range of stakeholders.  

To learn more, view the Cascade Avenue Reconstruction Project Video.

Lowry Avenue Bridge Project

The Lowry Avenue Bridge Project team included Hennepin County, SRF Consulting Group, T.Y. Lin International, and Lunda Construction Company. Accepting the award were Craig Twinem and Paul Backer from Hennepin County, as well as Nathen Will from SRF.

After continued deterioration, the bridge was permanently closed in 2008. Bridge replacement was the preferred solution and construction was completed in 2012, featuring a steel tied arch basket-handle main span configuration; the only one of its kind in the state of Minnesota. The design reduced the number of piers in the river and integrates a non-salt roadway anti-icing system, LED lighting and unique stormwater filtration systems.

Personnel Award Recipients for 2013 were:

• Director of the Year: Bev Farraher, MnDOT
• Supervisor of the Year: Jeff Streeter, MnDOT
• Superintendent of the Year: Scott Newberger, City of Plymouth

Hugo G. Erickson Award for Excellence in Chapter Service

Jim Grube, Hennepin County director of transportation and engineer, received the Hugo G. Erickson Award.

Jim served on the APWA-MN Executive Committee as a director in 2004 and 2005. He joined the Executive Committee in 2006 and served as chapter president in 2008. He has served on both the Awards Committee and the Conference Planning Committee for a number of years, and is actively involved in many other organizations. Many, many thanks to Jim for his service to the public works profession in Minnesota!

See photos of all award winners in the Photo Gallery. Congratulations to all the award winners!

National Awards Program
The close of this year’s local chapter awards leads us to the national APWA awards program. Nominations for national awards are due to APWA in early March of 2014.  Anyone interested in submitting an award, should contact Amy Grothaus, Braun Intertec, by January 15, 2014.

The awards committee would be happy to assist you or your agency with putting together your nomination packet.

Please download nomination forms from the APWA website.