Crafton Tull earns national award

Crafton Tull has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 57th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for its role in developing the Central Arkansas Regional Greenways Plan for Metroplan, the region’s federally designated metropolitan planning organization.

Rogers-based Crafton Tull was selected in 2021 to lead a two-year process to create and adopt the master plan that maps trails and multi-use pathways connecting the region’s center to its fringes along six corridors.

Crafton Tull and Toole Design led the effort to identify routes, establish design criteria, prepare estimates of probable construction costs, and prioritize investments based on public input. Metroplan officially adopted the 279-page final report in May 2023.

Several elements of the plan are in the design and construction phase, including the Southwest Trail, the Powerline Trail, the Cabot to Ward Trail, and the Club Manor Road Diet.

The project was among 203 entries this year representing engineering excellence from throughout the nation and the world. Judging for the awards program—known industry-wide as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”– took place in February and was conducted by a national 26-member panel of built environment leaders, along with experts from government, the media and academia.

Award criteria focused on uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.

Recognition of all award winners will take place during the 2024 EEA Gala, to be held at the Grand Hyatt, Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

The American Council of Engineering Companies is the business association of America’s engineering industry, representing more than 5,200 independent engineering firms and more than 600,000 professionals throughout the U.S.