Baker Wins CEC Honor Award for Liberty Tunnel Interchange
17 February 2000
Baker Wins CEC Honor Award for Liberty Tunnel Interchange
PITTSBURGH--Feb. 17, 2000--Michael Baker Jr., Inc., has received the Consulting Engineers Council of Pennsylvania 2000 Honor Award for Transportation for Engineering Excellence for its design work on the Liberty Tunnel Interchange. Michael Baker Jr., Inc., is a subsidiary of Michael Baker Corporation (AMEX:BKR). This is the second consecutive year Baker has received this award.The Interchange is located near Pittsburgh at the south portal of the Liberty Tunnel at the intersection of Saw Mill Run Boulevard and West Liberty Avenue. It carries more than 80,000 vehicles per day and is the primary access to the City for the South Hills communities.
Baker's overall contribution to the project involved meeting tight design schedule demands while providing effective long-term mobility solutions. Environmental clearance was issued within nine months of initiating the project, final design was completed in ten months and construction was completed in 30 months. The design included roadway improvements to seven intersecting streets, design of 3,500 feet of connector roads, two bridges, two box culverts, five retaining walls, drainage, lighting, signing and five signalized intersections.
Now complete, the Interchange improves traffic mobility by relieving the disruptive bottleneck at this regional gateway, reduces commuters' travel time and cost, and improves safety in the vicinity of the intersection by reducing conflicting traffic movement, improved highway lighting and improved highway geometry. Additionally, it reduces flooding potential and improves the visual characteristics of the corridor while supporting and enhancing transit and intermodal travel opportunities in the area.
Michael Baker Corporation (www.mbakercorp.com) provides engineering, management and operations services through its five business units: buildings, civil, energy, environmental, and transportation.