US Highway 83 Corridor Reconstruction Project earns SDDOT Top 12 honors in America’s Transportation Awards

The South Dakota Department of Transportation has been recognized for its work reconstructing US Highway 83 from the Nebraska border to Murdo.

This week (Sept. 13, 2023), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials unveiled its Top 12 contenders competing for this year’s (2023) America’s Transportation Awards. The US Highway 83 Corridor Improvements and Reconstruction project received a regional award in the “Quality of Life/Community Development” category.

With 81 nominations submitted by 36 state DOTs throughout the competition, the Top 12 finalists now vie for the Grand Prize and the People’s Choice Award. Both of these national prizes come with a $10,000 cash award for a charity or transportation-related scholarship of the winners’ choosing.

The Grand Prize recipient will be selected by an independent panel of judges, while the People’s Choice Award will be given to the project that garners the highest number of online votes from the general public, weighted by state population. Online voting is underway and continues through Nov. 14, 2023. Individuals can cast one vote per project, per day.

The Association will unveil the winners at its annual meeting Nov. 15, 2023, in Indianapolis.

The other state departments of transportation with projects in the Top 12 are from Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Vermont.

The Top 12 nationally based projects in alphabetical order by state are:

• Florida Department of Transportation’s Hurricane Ian Sanibel Island Emergency Access

• Georgia Department of Transportation’s Historic 5th Street Pedestrian Bridge Rehabilitation Project

• Illinois Department of Transportation’s Jane Byrne Interchange

• Iowa Department of Transportation’s Adult Changing Facilities in Iowa Rest Areas

• Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Mayfield Tornado Response 

• Maine Department of Transportation’s The Veranda Plan 

• North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Flood Warning System

• Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Emergency Fern Hollow Bridge Replacement Project 

• South Dakota Department of Transportation’s U.S. Highway 83 Corridor Improvements and Reconstruction 

• Texas Department of Transportation’s Mobility35 Initiative to Address Homelessness (IAH) Program

• Utah Department of Transportation’s Teamed-Up for Transit: UDOT and UTA Partner to Improve Mobility for Local Community

• Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Lamoille Valley Rail Trail