The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has been honored by the Florida Transportation Builders Association (FTBA) with a 2023 Best in Construction Award for the Wekiva Parkway section that includes new bridges over the Wekiva River.
The 6-mile Wekiva Parkway stretch – from the State Road (S.R.) 429 interchange near Camp Challenge Road in Lake County to Longwood Markham Road in Seminole County – was selected in the Design-Build Award category. The department was honored along with the contractor, Superior Construction Company Southeast, and the construction oversight firm, RS&H, Inc.
The Wekiva Parkway is completing Central Florida’s beltway, while helping to protect the natural resources surrounding the Wekiva River, a National Wild and Scenic River and Florida Outstanding Waterway. This section features many of the environmental protections that make the parkway unique, including several wildlife crossing bridges meant to help keep motorists and animals safe in the Wekiva River Basin. The crossings provide nearly 1.5 miles of space for animals to travel under the roadway between the Seminole State Forest and Rock Springs Run State Reserve – about 100 times more space than existed prior to the project.
The project employed “top-down construction” among several innovative building methods, as equipment was prohibited from entering the protected Wekiva River. Form travelers – equipment that moves from the top of newly built bridge columns to shape concrete – were used to build the concrete segments for the three bridges, which completely span the river. The project began in 2017 and opened to traffic in 2022.
The Best in Construction awards are meant to highlight those who worked on the most innovative, complex, and impactful projects around the state each year. The award will be presented during the FTBA Annual Convention Awards Breakfast, on Friday, August 4, 2023, in Boca Raton.
To learn more about the Wekiva Parkway project, please visit wekivaparkway.com.
