On March 3, 2009, a group of engineers from the Nashville office attended the American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) banquet. The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Tennessee, founded in 1968, is a statewide organization of more than 110 engineering companies. ACEC of Tennessee firms provide services to government agencies, municipalities, private businesses, and major corporations in Tennessee and throughout the nation. ACEC of Tennessee is a member organization of the national federation devoted to promoting the business interests of approximately 5,600 engineering companies employing more than 500,000 engineers, architects, land surveyors, scientists, and other specialists. The ACEC EEA competition recognizes engineering firms for projects that demonstrate a high degree of achievement, value, and ingenuity.

Neel-Schaffer submittal for the EEA competition was the survey and design of improvements to I-275 in Knoxville as part of SmartFIX40 for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). TDOT had two major expectations from Neel-Schaffer for this project – to meet aggressive project schedules and meet project budgets. TDOT was scheduled to close a short section of I-40 for reconstruction as part of the final phase of the SmartFIX40 project.  The section of I-275 in Knoxville is a vital phase in detouring traffic during the I-40 closure and meeting project schedules was vital to keeping closure of I-40 on schedule.

Using LIDAR survey technology, Neel-Schaffer was able to obtain survey data in an efficient and safe manner. Our design team worked long hours in designing interchange modification to the three existing clover-leaf interchanges eliminating dangerous weave sections and providing an additional through lane in both directions of I-275, increasing capacity for the SmartFIX40 detour and for future growth along the urban interstate corridor. Neel-Schaffer’s dedicated staff was able to complete the design of this project earlier than the projected schedule.

At the ACEC of Tennessee EEA banquet, Neel-Schaffer joined TDOT to receive a merit award for this very significant transportation project. The photo to the left includes those from the Nashville office (from left to right: Joe Deering, Joe Carpenter (TDOT), Sharon Schutz, Jim Zeigler, Greg Judy, Brad Bivens, and Bryan Zeigler).

View