Hatch Mott MacDonald Wins ACEC Grand Award for Niagara Tunnel Project

Hatch Mott MacDonald has received a Grand Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) for its work on

the Niagara Tunnel project. The award was presented at the 2015 Engineering Excellence Awards gala held in Washington, D.C., on April 21.

Describing the project in its program, ACEC said, “More than six miles long and 43 feet in diameter, the new Niagara Tunnel is the largest renewable energy project in the world. Providing much-needed power for the city of Niagara Falls, it is located deep beneath the city and is more than one and a half times wider than the English Channel Tunnel.”

ACEC noted that among the project’s firsts was its use of the world’s largest hard-rock boring machine, with cutterheads weighing about 66 tons (60 metric tons) each, and the world’s largest nonreinforced concrete tunnel liner.

CEO and President Nick DeNichilo, who was on hand to accept the award, said, “We are proud to have taken part in this historic international engineering project. The Niagara Tunnel is not only a major engineering feat but an important part of Ontario’s green energy future.”

HMM also received National Recognition Awards for five additional projects: Sterling Water Treatment System, Riverwalk – 14th Street Bridge and Plaza, Keswick Water Pollution Control Plant Outfall, Port Mann/Highway 1 Improvement, and Reconstruction of NJ Route 10 Bridge over Passaic River. In addition, T.Y. Lin and Moffatt & Nichol received the Grand Conceptor Award, the highest project award, for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge New East Span, for which HMM has also performed engineering services.

The Niagara Tunnel project has won previous honors from the Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards, the Consulting Engineers of Ontario, the Tunnelling Association of Canada, and from Platts Global Energy Awards.