University Avenue Project Honored as Best in the State

As part of a national designation for Infrastructure Week, the City of Waterloo is highlighting the tens of millions of dollars poured into road, bridge, airport and other improvements in recent years. A crown jewel among these infrastructure projects, the University Avenue Reconstruction was recognized this week at the Iowa Engineering Conference in Des Moines with the 2023 Grand Conceptor Award which signifies the year’s top engineering achievement in the state of Iowa.

University Avenue ownership was transferred from the Iowa Department of Transportation to the City of Waterloo. Partnering with AECOM Technical Services, an engineering firm with an office in Waterloo, a design resulted that transformed the highway into a four-lane Complete Street which means it is walkable and bike-able, in addition to an array of aesthetic enhancements from LED lighting to landscaping.

“This year alone over twelve million dollars in federal funding has gone into infrastructure projects across Waterloo. We are maintaining 64 square miles that include hundreds of streets, bridges and recreation trails. Our goal is to continually update and upgrade our infrastructure footprint for the benefit of everyone from residents to visitors,” says Mayor Quentin Hart, City of Waterloo.


See attached for a photo of city and engineering firm staff accepting the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) 2023 Grand Conceptor Award at the ACEC of Iowa Engineering Excellence Awards this week in Des Moines.