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The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recently unveiled the Top 12 finalists competing for the two national 2023 America’s Transportation Awards.
Sponsored by AASHTO, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the America’s Transportation Awards contest serves as a catalyst to honor state DOTs and the positive impacts their projects bring to communities across the country.
Following four regional competitions earlier this year, state departments of transportation from Texas, Pennsylvania, Utah, South Dakota, Maine, Vermont, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, and Iowa emerged with the top scores, earning their spots in the 2023 Top 12 list.
With 81 nominations submitted by 36 state DOTs throughout the competition, the Top 12 finalists — comprised of the top scoring projects from each regional contest — now vie for the Grand Prize and the People’s Choice Award. Both of these national prizes come with a $10,000 cash award for a charity or transportation-related scholarship of the winners’ choosing.
“These projects selected for our Top 12 list shine a spotlight on our most innovative and impactful projects in this year’s competition,” said AASHTO executive director Jim Tymon in a statement. “These vital projects deliver a range of benefits for their communities—whether providing emergency services during natural disasters, adding mobility options such as transit and active transportation infrastructure, or working with partners to address larger societal issues like homelessness. These Top 12 projects and initiatives showcase how state DOTs are building more equitable, resilient, and multimodal infrastructure for our communities.”
The Top 12 projects in alphabetical order by state are:
Florida Department of Transportation’s Hurricane Ian Sanibel Island Emergency Access
Georgia Department of Transportation’s Historic 5th Street Pedestrian Bridge Rehabilitation Project
Illinois Department of Transportation’s Jane Byrne Interchange
Iowa Department of Transportation’s Adult Changing Facilities in Iowa Rest Areas
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Mayfield Tornado Response
Maine Department of Transportation’s The Veranda Plan
North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Flood Warning System
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Emergency Fern Hollow Bridge Replacement Project
South Dakota Department of Transportation’s U.S. Highway 83 Corridor Improvements and Reconstruction
Texas Department of Transportation’s Mobility35 Initiative to Address Homelessness (IAH) Program
Utah Department of Transportation’s Teamed-Up for Transit: UDOT and UTA Partner to Improve Mobility for Local Community
Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Lamoille Valley Rail Trail
The Grand Prize recipient will be selected by an independent panel of judges, while the People’s Choice Award will be given to the project that garners the highest number of online votes from the general public, weighted by state population.
AASHTO will unveil the winners of these prizes at its annual meeting on November 15 in Indianapolis and online voting for the People’s Choice Award is open at americastransportationawards.org, continuing through November 14. Individuals can cast no more than one online vote per day per project. Information courtesy of AASHTO.