North Carolina Highway Team Nets Gold Nod for I-26 Project

“Missing Link” Challenged Appalachian Economy

Austin, TX/September14, 2005 —The National Partnership for Highway Quality (NPHQ) announced today that its highly-competitive 2005 Gold Award will go to the North Carolina Department of Transportation and general contractor APAC-Carolina, Inc., for their work in designing and completing the I-26 “missing link” in storied Madison County, citing the team's “outstanding performance and attention to quality values and innovative thinking.”

Announcing the award was Bob Templeton, executive director of NPHQ, a partnership among federal, state, and roadway industry leaders and officials whose shared advocacy of “customer-centered” practices has produced better, safer, more user-friendly roads and bridges that are completed faster, last longer, and minimize congestion and inconvenience.

Templeton said that the “missing link,” a 10.5-mile section of I-26 in Madison County connecting South Carolina and Ohio, was known as such in local lore because, vital as it is to economic growth in the entire western Appalachian region since it serves as the gateway to a five-state corridor, it had languished unfinished for many years.

One reason for its unfinished state was the unforgiving nature of the local terrain. The North Carolina team, determined to overcome the obstacles with the newest technology and leading edge developments in engineering and design, “triumphed over the hurdles and delivered a high-quality roadway, together with a new Welcome Center, and now situated in a beautiful environment,” Templeton added.

Teamwork proved an essential component of the project's success, involving affected stakeholders—local citizens, businesses, governments, and representatives of the traveling public—in the process, from planning through traffic control through completion – which was achieved on time-and on-budget. Innovative techniques included a traveler fog detection system, a roadway anti-icing system, hazardous material spill basins, aerial seeding, and Digital Terrain Modeling (DTM).

“The North Carolina team took as its goals not only on-time project delivery but safety, quality, environmental responsibility, and a focus on the customer,” said Templeton. In so doing, he continued, they now add the NPHQ Gold Award to several others recently conferred, including the nationwide “Best Highway Project” designation from the 2004 Southern Concrete Alliance Network.

NPHQ is composed of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Texas Transportation Institute, the Foundation for Pavement Preservation, the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies, the American Highway Users Alliance, The Associated General Contractors of America, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Kiewit Corporation, and the URS Corporation.

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