Gold Line Bridge received five engineering and construction awards in 2013
Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority
This year, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority was honored with five industry awards for the Gold Line Bridge, a 584-linear foot structure is says now serves as a gateway to the San Gabriel Valley.
The Gold Line Bridge was the first element of the 11.5-mile Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension light-rail project from Pasadena to Azusa to be completed and provides a connection between the current Gold Line terminus in the median of the I-210 Freeway at the Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena and the future Arcadia Station that is under construction in downtown Arcadia, Calif.
The Gold Line Bridge, completed in mid-December 2012, was recognized this year by various construction and engineering industry associations with the following awards:
• Best Project in Southern California, Highways/Bridges, Engineering News Record
• 2013 Engineering Achievement Award, American Council of Engineering Companies
• 2013 Project Achievement Award, Construction Management Association of America
• Distinguished Project Award, Western Council of Construction Consumers
• Outstanding Public Civil Engineering Project, Transportation Over $10 Million, American Society of Civil Engineers
“It’s an honor to receive these awards and to be recognized in the engineering and construction industry for the Gold Line Bridge,” said Habib Balian, CEO of the authority. “The bridge is being recognized for not only its artistic beauty, but also the challenges that were overcome to design and build the bridge over an active freeway and an earthquake fault.”
In addition to being the most visible element of the light-rail extension, the authority says the Gold Line Bridge also holds distinctions amongst infrastructure projects in California as the first ever artist-designed transit bridge and as the largest, single public art/transit infrastructure project. The on-budget, $18.6-million project was designed by award-winning public artist Andrew Leicester, who then worked alongside design-builder Skanska USA and Los Angeles-based design consultant AECOM to ensure the final design and construction were true to the overall vision.
