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ENGINEERS
| Sunday, February 21, 2021
Omaha WOrld-herald
2021 ENGINEERING AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE Each February, the American Council of Engineering Companies-Nebraska celebrates the innovation and creativity of its member firms in conjunction with National Engineers Week. This special section spotlights the best of the best in ACEC Nebraska’s 2021 awards program.
GRAND AWARD CATEGORY—Transportation Firm: Olsson Client: nebraska department of Transportation Project: u.S. Highway 281 over niobrara river emergency repairs
In March 2019, a rare bomb cyclone hit Nebraska,resulting in record snowfall, heavy rains, flooding and massive ice build-up against Spencer Dam about five miles south of Spencer, Nebraska, causing a breach and severe flooding downstream. Floodwaters from the breached dam wreaked havoc
on U.S. Highway 281, an important route maintained by the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT). Flooding also created a new river channel, washing away approximately 1,300 feet of the existing U.S.281 embankment. NDOT reached out to Olsson transportation professionals to help restore the roadway and bridge. They began this emergency repair project March 22, 2019, within eight days of the destruction. Because access to the site was limited, Olsson used drones to photogrammetrically map the project area and collect the information needed to properly engineer corrective measures. Olsson’s in-house geomorphologist and hydraulics specialists analyzed the channel’s instabil-
ity so bridge engineers could account for it in the designs of the temporary and permanent bridges. Olsson environmental professionals worked to ensure all proposed solutions would comply with the emergency Clean Water Act (CWA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Ultimately, two bridge structures were designed to restore access to this area. By committing key senior design staff to this emergency project, Olsson’s final design plans went out for bid on May 1, 2019 — just six weeks after NDOT’s notice to proceed. A temporary,one-lane bridge restored traffic on U.S. 281 within four months. The permanent bridge replacement, and associated roadway and approaches, opened on Oct. 15, 2020.
Olsson nabbed ACEC Nebraska’s 2021 Grand Award for emergency repairs to U.S. Highway 281 over the Niobrara River after floodwaters wreaked havoc in spring 2019.
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