Critical highway repairs completed two years ahead of schedule. A power plant project that’s also a park. A veterans’ hospital built to function even when flooded. Those are a few examples of the above-and-beyond design and construction efforts honored by ENR’s annual Best of the Best Projects awards. Whether it’s for their outside-the-box innovation, extreme collaboration, stellar safety record or overcoming the challenges of site and schedule to deliver the highest-quality construction, the projects profiled here represent the national pinnacle of what starts as an annual regional Best Projects competition. In the most recent cycle of competition, more than 800 project teams submitted entries to one of our 10 regions. All projects had to be completed between May 2017 and May 2018. From there, independent panels of industry experts reviewed the entries across 20 different categories and then collectively determined each region’s Best Projects. Next, ENR assembled new judging panels to look at all the regional winners—about 200 projects in all—and choose national winners by category for recognition as the “Best of the Best,” resulting in the stories that follow. ENR editors, with input from the judges, chose a single Project of the Year as the top example of innovation and teamwork. Project teams will be honored at ENR’s Award of Excellence gala dinner in New York on March 21, with Best of the Best award plaques presented at a March 22 breakfast ceremony. For more information, visit www.enrawardofexcellence.com.


Winners

Project of the Year, Best Highway/Bridge
US 34 Permanent Repairs Project


Project of the Year Finalist, Best Energy/Industrial
Holland Energy Park


Project of the Year Finalist: Higher Education/Research
Arizona State University Biodesign Institute C


Best Airport/Transit
Orlando International Airport South APM Complex


Best Cultural/Worship
Austin by Ellsworth Kelly


Excellence in Safety
Trunk Highway 53 Relocation


Best Government/Public Building
Army National Guard Readiness Center and Army Aviation Support Facility


Best Green Project
Palomar College Maintenance and Operations Building


Best Health Care
Southeast Louisiana Veterans Healthcare System Replacement Hospital


Best Interiors/Tenant Improvement
Uber Advanced Technologies Group R&D Center


Best K-12 Education
Design Tech High School


Best Landscape/Urban Development
Long Beach Seaside Way Pedestrian Bridge


Best Manufacturing
CRRC MA


Best Office/Retail/Mixed-Use
3 World Trade Center


Best Renovation/Restoration
Niagara Falls State Park Rehabilitation


Best Residential/Hospitality
Davis Barracks, U.S. Military Academy


Best Small Project Under $10M
Cloud Song at Scottsdale Community College


Best Specialty Construction
Transbay Block 8 - The Avery


Best Sports/Entertainment
Vivint SmartHome Arena Renovation


Best Water/Environment
Phase IV – Gloucester Remedy Implementation


Judges

Eladio Castrodad
Hill International

Vice President & Deputy Regional Manager, Southeast U.S. & Latin America


Cosema (Connie) Crawford
Louis Berger

Senior Vice President, Rail/Transit Global Practice Leader


Wayne Crew
National Academy of Construction

General Secretary


Keith Douglas
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.

Executive Vice President


Danielle Dy Buncio
VIATechnik        

President & CEO


Bart Eberwein
Hoffman Corp.

Executive Vice President


Anna Franz         
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Chief, Space and Facilities


Carl Heinlein
American Contractors Insurance Group

Senior Safety Consultant


Diane Jacobs
Holly Street Studio

Principal


Joan McDonald
JMM Strategic Solutions               

Consultant


Sam Mishelow
Meyer Najem Construction LLC
Chief Strategy Officer


Jennifer Pinck
Pinck & Co. Inc.

Founder & Managing Director


Tim Psomas
Psomas

Chairman Emeritus


Joseph Stagner
Stanford University

Executive Director of Sustainability & Energy Management


Margaret (Maggi) Walker
National Academy of Construction (Dow Chemical, retired)

Chair – safety committee


Rick Zellen
Zurich North America

AVP, Principal Risk Engineer