The American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin (ACEC WI) announced recently its juried selection of 2025 Engineering Excellence Award winners. The City of Fond du Lac and MSA Professional Services, Inc. (MSA) were together selected to receive a State Finalist Award for the West Division Street Bridge project.

State Finalist Awards recognize projects that exemplify the skill and creativity of the engineering profession as chosen by a panel of judges from outside of the ACEC WI association membership. Projects are appraised and rated on a variety of merits including original or innovative application of new or existing techniques; future value to the engineering profession and perception by the public; social, economic and sustainable design considerations; complexity; and exceeding client/owner needs.

The West Division Street Bridge project in the City of Fond du Lac replaced a deteriorating downtown bridge ranked in “serious condition” via the National Bridge Inventory program. Originally constructed in 1968 and spanning the West Branch of the Fond du Lac River, the former single-span box girder bridge raised condition and safety concerns. MSA designed a new two-span haunched concrete slab bridge with improved sizing, safety, and pedestrian accommodations including new 6-foot-wide sidewalks, a 5-foot-wide raised median along the centerline of the bridge and each approach, and updated utilities.

Adjacent to a tight urban corridor and a busy Canadian National Railway crossing, the project required close coordination with the City of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) Northeast Region, Canadian National Railway, and public and private utility departments. It involved bridge construction within its constrained urban environment, designated “quiet zone” accommodations, retention and fortification of the former west abutment structure of the bridge to support train traffic during construction, and the use of vibration-monitoring equipment to ensure that construction operations would not adversely impact the adjacent historic Winnebago Cheese factory property undergoing a simultaneous renewal development.

“It’s great that the project team including MSA and the City of Fond du Lac are receiving recognition for the upgraded West Division Street Bridge,” remarked Kevin Ruhland, PE, vice president of the Mobility service line at MSA. “This project presented intensive railroad-related design and construction challenges, as well as multiple opportunities to improve pedestrian and vehicular safety and the overall aesthetic of this corridor. We’re proud to deliver a solution that meets the needs of the city and the adjacent railway alike — a great improvement to transportation efficiency across the region.”

All ACEC WI award winners will be formally recognized at the Engineering Excellence Awards Banquet in at the American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin, on May 2, 2025.