After a vote of the regional editors of ENR, HNTB Corp. has been named ENR Midwest's Design Firm of the Year.
Kansas City-based HNTB has consistently ranked in the top five since we started ranking Midwest design firms by revenue in 2012. HNTB Reported more than $208 million in 2018 revenue climbing back to the number three slot (so far) on the Top Design Firms list. That's up from $199 million last year HNTB's work included at least $1 million in revenue from each state in the region.
One of the major projects HNTB completed last years was the design of O’Hare Airport runway 9C-27C. This $500-million, 11,245-ft-long and 200-ft-wide runway project created the second-largest runway in the busiest airport in the nation. HNTB's scope of work include design of north and south full-length parallel taxiways, three high-speed taxiways, several connecting taxiways, and two hold aprons. The pavement section of the runway consists of 19 inches of Portland cement concrete pavement over six inches of bituminous base course over six inches of asphalt-treated permeable base. The project won several awards from aviation and airport organizations and, more importantly to passengers, has helped O’Hare improve its on-time performance. It’s step one in a modernization that will eventually see terminal 1 demolished and, because of HNTB's design of 9C that connects other runways, it allowed Chicago Department of Aviation to demolish two taxiways and open up space for the planned expansion.
HNTB is program manager of Chicago's Red Line extension project, a proposed $2.3-billion, 5.3-mile extension of Chicago Transit Authority's red line train that includes four new stations near 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street. The plan is to use existing rail lines like the Union Pacific’s abandoned tracks to make up the new line. As program manager, HNTB is responsible for developing the best plan to ultimately seek federal funding for the extension. HNTB previously designed the $203-million CTA Wilson Station.
HNTB has been a transit adviser for the City of Milwaukee since 1999 and was responsible for final engineering of the streetcar, which opened in 2018.
HNTB is also at the forefront of integrating technology into transportation design. HNTB Engineers designed the $92-million US 23 Flex Route, Michigan’s first active-traffic management road. Real-time data is being used to actively manage traffic to open the shoulder, harmonize speeds, warn drivers of conditions ahead and respond to accidents.
For embracing transportation innovation, taking the region's most difficult design jobs and consistently delivering infrastructure that makes the region work, ENR Midwest is proud to recognize HNTB as Design Firm of the Year.
