Grand Marais road improvements cited in international engineering

LHB, Inc., of Duluth, Minn., has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 56th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for the reconstruction of Trunk Highway 61 in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

The comprehensive 11.3-mile-long project through downtown Grand Marias included a 3/4-mile conversion of rural commercial corridor to urban design with pedestrian curb bump-outs, narrowed driving lanes and shoulders to slow traffic. Other features include a 6-foot-wide sidewalk, a 12-foot-wide shared-use path, and improvements to business access, underground infrastructure, a new traffic signal, and dark-sky compliant roadway and pedestrian-scale lighting. The urban conversion also helped with access control by consolidating roadway connection points, and establishing standard entrances in lieu of less formalized connections.

Urban preservation work on the western edge of Grand Marais involved mill and overlay, ADA-compliant improvements, and drainage upgrades. Outside of town, nearly nine miles of rural preservation and drainage improvements included culvert repairs and replacements, new guardrail, and a new box culvert at scenic Fall River, a designated trout stream.

The project is among 179 EEA entries this year representing engineering excellence from throughout the nation and the world. Judging for the awards program—known industry-wide as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”– took place in March and was conducted by a national 27-member panel of built environment leaders, along with experts from government, the media and academia. Award criteria focused on uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.

Recognition of all 2023 award winners, including top winners—16 Honor Awards, 8 Grand Awards and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement—will take place at the annual EEA Gala Dinner and Awards Program, a black-tie event to be held Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C.