Innovative project also receives FTBA’s Best in Construction Award

Superior Construction has received the 2023 Design-Build Institute of America Florida Region’s Transportation Structures Honor Award for its Wekiva Parkway Section 6 project. The contractor’s signature project was also awarded the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association 2023 Best in Construction Award in the design-build category. These prestigious awards recognize companies and individuals who worked on Florida’s most innovative, complex and impactful transportation projects.

Section 6 of the Wekiva Parkway is a testament to the fusion of functionality and beauty. The $247 million project rehabilitated a vital stretch of the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) Wekiva Parkway through conscientious design and construction practices. It increases capacity between Lake and Seminole Counties, redirects traffic from Florida’s congested I-4 corridor, and integrates harmoniously with its natural surroundings.

The project scope included a shared-use path, a non-tolled service road for local travel, and several wildlife bridges to allow animals to pass safely between the Seminole State Forest and Rock Springs Run State Reserve, for a total of 18 bridges with over 1.268 million square feet of deck. Three of the bridges dubbed the Wekiva River Crossing, were built across the federally designated Wild and Scenic River. They feature pier shapes inspired by trees and a concrete stain to match their surroundings, an excellent example of environmental stewardship incorporated into the design.

“We’re immensely proud of our team for receiving both awards. It not only honors the dedicated professionals involved in bringing this project to fruition, but I hope it will also inspire future generations of bridge designers and engineers,” said Superior Construction CEO Nick Largura. 

Superior and WGI, Inc. developed their creative construction concept alongside Shelby, a qualified team with unique segmental bridge construction experience, and through a strategic partnership with FINLEY Engineering (now COWI). The highly innovative project used top-down balanced cantilever construction for the segmental bridge spans over the Wekiva River. Doing so minimized environmental impacts by eliminating work in the water. To complete the project, the design-build team also employed Florida’s first use of flexible filler for post-tensioning in a cast-in-place segmental bridge and the state’s first use of a rebar-tying robot on a bridge deck.

This year’s Best in Construction Award winners will be recognized at the FTBA Annual Convention Awards Breakfast in Boca Raton, Florida, on August 4. The DBIA Florida region awards will be presented on August 31 at the organization’s annual awards luncheon.