Jacobs Wins ACEC New York Engineering Excellence Diamond Award

Each year, members of the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC New York) submit their best projects in hopes of winning one of the Engineering Excellence awards. We’re thrilled that a Manhattan-based flood mitigation and resiliency project has won a top prize for 2022 — the coveted Diamond Award — and will now be entered to win the national Empire Award as a New York top-rated project.

New York City Transit’s (NYCT’s) 148th Street Yard was severely damaged by heavy floods during recent storms. It required significant mitigation and resiliency work so that the No. 3 subway line, which is critical to tens of thousands of daily regional commuters, could stay operational and protected from future weather events. Our Diamond award in the Special Projects Category recognizes our construction management services activities, which included an innovative skeletonized track system so crucial work could continue during weekend outages.

“From the beginning, we understood how impactful the 148^th Street Yards resiliency project could be to the surrounding Harlem community, and we were eager to get involved and ensure a successful outcome,” says Jacobs Senior Project Manager Nino Pirraglia. “With climate change causing unprecedented flooding in recent years, protecting NYCT’s infrastructure from damage is even more critical to the millions of riders who depend on our subways every day. Our work demonstrates the importance of developing innovative solutions that produce beneficial outcomes for city residents.”

A win for Jacobs is a win for New York

Our work as construction manager included installing 2,425 linear feet of pile-supported reinforced concrete floodwalls, extending an existing steel bulkhead sheet pile wall 560 linear feet, installing three flexible flood gates at vehicle entrances, and a stop log system at the portal interface leading into a train tunnel.

The mitigation work will minimize future disruption for all those who rely on this essential NYCT 3 Line, as the yard’s tunnel portal is now protected by a new and advanced stop log system that greatly reduces installation time in advance of an oncoming storm.

By installing an innovative skeletonized track system, construction continued even during weekend outages, allowing project completion with minimal service disruptions. The outages were necessary to install numerous piles to support a flood wall at the tunnel portal. After each pile was installed, the project required extensive track cleanings and inspections before trains could resume service in time for the morning rush hour.

Despite these extreme scheduling challenges, the tracks were returned by every Monday morning deadline. We were able to foresee potential issues, minimize change orders and complete the project on time and on budget.

Congratulations to the 148^th Street Yard Team for their hard work and dedication.

And that’s not all – more awards for our New York teams

Two other New York Jacobs’ teams also received awards. The Platinum Award was presented to City Island Access Pier Reconstruction Design and Resident Engineer Services project and a Silver Award to the Reconstruction of Tillary Street, Phase II project. Congratulations to these teams and our New York Office for continuously living our tagline: Challenging today. Reinventing tomorrow.

About the Engineering Excellence Awards

ACEC New York is a proactive coalition of almost 300 firms representing every discipline of engineering related to the built environment—civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, geotechnical—and affiliated companies. Their shared goals are to further the business interests of their membership, enhance the quality and safety of the environment we live and work in, and help ensure the vitality of our communities.

The Engineering Excellence Awards are presented to the projects that encompass both the public and private sector in several categories including consulting services, building/technology systems, structural systems, waste and storm water, transportation and special projects.