ENR Mountain States magazine announced its 2013 Best Projects award winners at the end of August (see previous editor’s blog on this website). Now, after tabulating final results and polling our judges, we are ready to announce the winners of this year’s Best Projects Safety Awards and the finalists for Best Overall Project of the Year in both the Intermountain and Colorado areas.
This year’s safety competition was the tightest one so far. Our safety judges noted that many firms have improved not only their safety records but also their approaches to safety through comprehensive, job-specific programs with well-documented plans and good follow-through. As always, we asked the judges not to make the size of the projects a major consideration, but larger and more complex projects tend to demand more extensive safety measures. Here are this year’s safety winners, by region:

• Colorado/Wyoming Safety Award Winner: Metropolitan State University of Denver Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center, Denver
• Colorado/Wyoming Safety Award Merit: Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center, Denver

• Intermountain Safety Award Winner: FCF Rebuild, Salt Lake City
• Intermountain Safety Award Merit: High Mesa Wind Farm, Twin Falls, Idaho

The voting for Best Overall Project of the Year was close, as always, but a handful of projects emerged as front-runners. To be considered for this honor, a project had to be a winner (first place) in its individual category and receive the first-place vote of at least one judge and the second-place vote of another. The winners of this award will be announced at the breakfast award ceremonies in Salt Lake City (Oct. 29) and Denver (Oct. 30). Here are the finalists in alphabetical order.

Colorado/Wyoming area Best Overall finalists:

• Mesa Verde National Park Visitor and Research Center, Mesa Verde, Colo.
• Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center, Denver
• Wayne N. Aspinall Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse Renovation, Grand Junction, Colo.

Intermountain area Best Overall finalists:

• Adobe Corporate Campus, Lehi, Utah
• Salt Lake City Public Safety Building, Salt Lake City
• U.S. 95 Sand Creek Byway, Sandpoint, Idaho

Information and registration for the Best Projects events is available at: http://construction.com/events/2013/bestprojects/

Hope to see you in Salt Lake City or Denver for the awards ceremonies.