Voting is underway on the finalists for the America’s Transportation Awards, and PennDOT Connects is one of the finalists for both the Grand Prize and for People’s Choice Award.
The program is one of 12 projects across the nation recognized for excellence in three categories. Those categories include Quality of Life/Community Development, Best Use of Technology & Innovation and Operations Excellence.
Those interested in voting can vote once a day until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 6. The finalist with the most votes will win the People’s Choice Award. Meanwhile, a panel of transportation industry experts will consider the finalists and select the Grand Prize winner.
The competition, which is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, (AASHTO), AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, awards $10,000 to the two winning projects, so that the funds can be donated to a charity or scholarship of the winners’ choice.
PennDOT Connects, which works to engage community stakeholders and make sure that community needs are a main focus of every phase of a transportation project’s planning process, was nominated in the Quality of Life/Community Development category.
“When I introduced PennDOT Connects in 2016, I knew it could play a pivotal role in transforming communities, one project at a time,” said PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards in a press release issued Wednesday. “It is beyond gratifying to see the initiative recognized on a national level by AASHTO.”
PennDOT Connects was entered via the Northeast division of the Small Project category of the awards competition, which focused on projects that cost less than $25 million. Other categories included medium ($25 to $199 million) and large projects (at a cost of $200 million or more.
A specific example of the PennDOT Connects program is the I-676 Bridges Replacement project, which cost almost $1 million. This project handled the replacement of seven bridges in the Philadelphia area in 2018, which were intended to improve both pedestrian and driver safety. The project also added green space to two city parks.
