QC projects capture ACEC Illinois Judge’s Choice Awards

A pair of projects with Quad Cities ties are among the 2025 American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois (ACEC Illinois) Engineering Excellence Awards winners. Among those capturing Judges’ Choice Awards for engineering companies from multiple categories were:  WHKS. It won in the Structural Systems category for critical repair work on the Centennial Bridge for […]

A pair of projects with Quad Cities ties are among the 2025 American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois (ACEC Illinois) Engineering Excellence Awards winners. Among those capturing Judges' Choice Awards for engineering companies from multiple categories were: 

• WHKS. It won in the Structural Systems category for critical repair work on the Centennial Bridge for the Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT) and the City of Rock Island. 
• Quad Cities-based IMEG won in the Building/Technology Systems category for constructing the new Rockford, Illinois, Public Library.

Find a complete list of winners here. Projects from engineering companies across the state were recognized for their innovation, complexity, overall design and economic impact, an ACEC news release said. The top prizes went to transformative projects completed for Kane County’s DOT, Chicago’s DOT and the City of Marion. This year’s coveted Lincoln’s Grand Conceptor Award was won by Crawford, Murphy & Tilly; Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick; Thomas Engineering; BLA, Inc.; Burns & McDonnell; V3; CivilTech; Benesch; Clark Dietz; Huff & Huff. The team was honored for improving the Longmeadow Parkway Corridor. That included building a four-lane, 5.6-mile suburban highway that provides a crucial connection across the Fox River for the county's transportation department.  With a total construction cost of $117 million, the corridor is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken by Kane County.

Creativity, ingenuity

“The 2025 Engineering Excellence Awards highlight the creativity and ingenuity of Illinois engineers and the innovative approaches they adopt to solve the problems they face while designing and building transformative projects across our state,” ACEC Illinois President Kevin Artl said in the release. “The projects recognized and honored during this year’s award ceremony are well-designed, best-in-class construction projects that renew public spaces and make novel resources available for Illinoisans, ultimately bringing economic prosperity to our communities. Congratulations to all the winners, who deserve this special honor.” ACEC represents hundreds of companies and says it is the voice of the engineering industry in Illinois. Its roots dating back more than 100 years. ACEC Illinois represents more than 11,000 engineers, architects, land surveyors and other specialists. Its primary mission is to strengthen the business environment for member firms. It does that through government advocacy, political action, and business education. For more information, visit www.acecil.org.