Fish Hatchery Road rebuild cited in national engineering competition

Madison-based KL Engineering Inc. has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 56th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for the North Fish Hatchery Road Reconstruction Project in Fitchburg.

The project team designed and rebuilt 1.5 miles of a six-lane, divided roadway segment south of the Madison Beltline (US Route 12/14). The heavily traveled roadway serves area residents, commuters, schools, businesses, and Capital City State Trail enthusiasts, and accommodates more than 40,000 vehicles each day.

Community outreach, communication, and collaboration were critical to the project, which included two reconstructed intersections and safety and capacity updates to several others, new water and sanitary infrastructure, sustainable stormwater features, adaptive traffic signal technologies, and a rehabilitated three-cell box culvert. New decorative retaining walls, a pedestrian bridge with an expanded shared-use path, mass transit amenities, upgraded lighting, and decorative streetscaping elements were cited for transforming the corridor into the “Gateway of Fitchburg.”

The project was among 179 EEA entries this year representing engineering excellence from throughout the nation and the world. Award criteria focused on uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.