MSA WINS TWO "BEST OF STATE" AWARDS
MSA Professional Services was awarded “Best of State” Engineering Excellence Awards by the American Council of Engineering Companies of
Wisconsin for two of its signature projects. The first one is for the
Lake
Delton and STH A Restoration project,
Lake Delton, Wisconsin, that restored the manmade lake and a key transportation corridor, saving 25 lakeside businesses. The other is the showcase University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus Drive Multi-Use Path that features one of the largest installations of solar-powered lights in the country. These two projects are eligible for the ACEC-Wisconsin Grand Award that will be announced March 26, 2010. The
Lake
Delton award is shared with Mead & Hunt (
Madison, Wisconsin).
On June 9, 2008, horrified property owners and residents watched the manmade
Lake
Delton disappear in about two hours. Sustained rains caused the lake to cut a 300-foot-wide by 700-foot-long breach and then completely drain into the nearby
Wisconsin River. Within hours of the disaster, Governor Jim Doyle promised that state agencies would restore STH A by December 2008 and refill
Lake
Delton by May 2009. MSA Professional Services, Mead & Hunt, and numerous other contractors worked with governmental officials to streamline the process and meet the tight timeline.
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Aerial of Lake Delton restoration during construction
Twenty-five lakeside businesses would not have survived two summers without this 267-acre manmade lake. As promised, STH A and critical components of the Dell Creek Dam were completed by December 2008. Traffic flow was reinstated, providing greater convenience for the traveling public as well as an important link for emergency services. The lake was refilled ahead of schedule by May 2009 and the dam was improved to accommodate a “1000-year flood.” Total project costs for the dam and highway were approximately $5 million with an additional $500,000 expended for more than 20 critical projects related to the disaster. This project has been described as a model of how to successfully streamline a complex, time-sensitive project through continual communication, teamwork, and technical innovation.
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Governor Jim Doyle cutting the ribbon at the opening of STH A.
The second “Best of State” award was presented to MSA for the design of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus Drive Multi-Use path. Because of this facility, bikers and pedestrians now enjoy safe passage from nearby neighborhoods to the west end of the UW campus. At night, both standard and solar lighting illuminates the popular route that travels past an active railroad line, buildings, and structures. Before construction of this path, travelers had to negotiate hazardous crossings to reach their destination.
This showcase multi-use trail features 37 photovoltaic lighting fixtures--one of the largest installations of this type in the country. With their prominent location adjacent to a busy road, these lights have generated significant interest in this new energy technology. This project demonstrates how self-contained, solar-powered lights can provide power to multi-use paths where electrical lines may not be nearby.
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Wisconsin-Madison Campus Drive Multi-Use path
This path provides a critical link in the university’s master plan to add more pedestrian and biking corridors on campus. These trails are important for the City of
Madison that has been designated as a “gold level” Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.
