BELLEVUE, WA — The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) has recognized 19 HDR projects with national awards. The projects represent a wide range of disciplines and regions across the United States.

Two projects in Washington won National Recognition Awards at the ceremony of ACEC’s 54th Engineering Excellence Awards Gala in Washington, D.C. A panel of nearly 30 judges selected the year’s most outstanding engineering accomplishments from nearly 175 entries.

Long used for light industry, the city of Bellevue, Washington, is transforming the BelRed area into a mixed-use and transit oriented neighborhood. The gateway into this community, and the backbone for area development, is NE Spring Boulevard. This new five-lane, half-mile roadway includes five new intersections, two bridges crossing the East Link light rail line, a multipurpose pathway, cycle tracks, parking and drop off zones, and bioretention stormwater treatment.

The Complete Streets-focused design improves mobility for people who walk, bike, drive, or take transit, while helping to unlock development potential in the area. Bike lanes, rather than integrated into the roadway, are set back at the same grade as the sidewalks and buffered by an amenity zone. A multipurpose pathway links the area with downtown Bellevue.

HDR worked closely with the City of Bellevue to deliver this $57-million urban corridor. HDR was selected as the lead designer, resident engineer, and construction manager. The company's work included traffic analysis and forecasting, grant assistance, intersection design, alternatives analysis, conceptual design, and final design of multiple structures.

Constructed by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, City of Tumwater, Squaxin Island Tribe, and Olympia Tumwater Foundation, the Tumwater Falls Hatchery project provides a facility to trap returning adult salmon; rear, acclimate, and release additional Chinook salmon; improve water quality; educate the community; and support the dwindling Southern Resident Killer Whale (orca) population.

Built in the 1950s to help spawning salmon traverse the Deschutes River, Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls’ fish ladders needed repair and the hatchery’s 1960s-era holding ponds had become too small for current needs. The $9-million modernization project built new, larger adult holding and juvenile rearing ponds, extended the fish ladder, and expanded production quantity to more than 3.8 million Chinook salmon annually. The project will allow the more than 250,000 annual park visitors to come face-to-face with salmon through new fish-viewing windows in the holding ponds and ladder.