On Friday, February 8, the City of Champaign was awarded American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois (ACEC) Engineering Excellence Merit Awards for three projects: the Boneyard Creek Improvements – Phase 2 Project, the John Street Project, and the HVAC Equipment and Controls – City Facilities Project. Merit Awards are given for projects “worthy of recognition for the engineer and the client.”
The Boneyard Creek Improvements – Phase 2 consist of the Second Street Detention and Logan Street Storm Sewer Improvements. In addition to adding stormwater control, these improvements eliminated blighted areas, added a major urban recreation area, and provided safe pedestrian and bicycle connectivity between Champaign’s revitalized Downtown and Campustown districts. The projects had a construction contract cost of $16 million.
The John Street Project was a comprehensive drainage improvement project that addressed severe flooding and sewer overflows in the John Street Watershed. The project incorporated traditional stormwater management techniques along with rain gardens, permeable pavements and other stormwater absorbing features. This approach addressed the inadequacy of the existing storm sewer system and reduced the amount of stormwater runoff from the watershed, which improved the flood protection in the watershed from a 1-year level to a 40-year level.
The HVAC Equipment and Controls – City Facilities Project involved improvements at the Champaign City Building and Fire Station 1. The project included a new building automation system to replace the existing pneumatic controls at the City Building. It optimized the control sequences and provided network communications to the Police and Fire Station. A new air conditioning chiller was also installed to work with the existing chilled water system. The work at the Fire Station included replacing the boiler and the roof mounted condensing units.
