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