Kane’s Longmeadow Parkway wins national award for engineering excellence

Kane County’s Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor over the Fox River near Carpentersville received an Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies at its awards ceremony Tuesday, May 20, in Washington, D.C., officials announced in a news release.

The Longmeadow Parkway project – which took 30 years to complete – was one of six Illinois infrastructure projects to receive a National Recognition Award.

The Engineering Excellence Awards are an annual celebration of engineering excellence, honoring projects worldwide that demonstrate innovation, creative problem-solving, and engineering’s unique ability to improve our world, according to the release.

The Longmeadow Parkway was a $204 million project to create a 5.6-mile-long corridor crossing northern Kane County from Huntley Road to Illinois Route 62 to the east.

A panel of industry, government and academic experts judge the competition. Others awarded include the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Chicago Department of Transportation, according to the release.

Kevin Artl, president and CEO of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois, said the award-winning projects “showcase exceptional innovation and design excellence by Illinois engineering firms and positions Illinois engineers among the best and brightest on a national stage.”

“Illinois engineers are exceptional,” Artl said in the release. “And through collaboration with state agencies and local governments, they deliver projects that improve the daily lives of residents from Chicagoland to Southern Illinois.”

Longmeadow Parkway is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken by Kane County, according to the release.

The four-lane, 5.6-mile suburban highway features a four-span, 788-foot-long bridge that provides a crucial connection across the Fox River, serving a rapidly growing part of the county, according to the release.

The Kane County Department of Transportation utilized Crawford, Murphy & Tilly; Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick; Thomas Engineering; BLA, Inc.; Burns & McDonnell; V3; CivilTech; Alfred Benesch; Clark Dietz; Huff & Huff as engineering firms for the extensive project.

The corridor also includes a bike and pedestrian path that will connect to the Fox River Trail. The corridor passes through portions of Algonquin, Carpentersville and Barrington Hills and unincorporated areas of Kane County.

The American Council of Engineering Companies is the voice of the engineering industry in Illinois, representing hundreds of companies and more than 11,000 engineers, architects, land surveyors and other specialists.

The primary mission is to strengthen the business environment for our member firms through government advocacy, political action and business education.

More information is available online at www.acecil.org.