March 3, 2026

By Lane Kimble

A downtown Milwaukee street is safer, a Sheboygan County dam better protects and enhances a nearby marsh, and UW Badgers have a better place to train at the Kohl Center thanks to WTBA-member engineering firms’ award-winning work.

The American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin announced its 2026 Engineering Excellence Awards this week.

Of the 10 “Best of State” winners, seven are WTBA members who worked on six projects.  “Best of State” are entires that represent the highest degree of innovation, client satisfaction, and industry contributions, ACEC says.  They included AECOM, HNTB, KL Engineering, Kapur & Associates R.H. Batterman, and raSmith.

Meanwhile, another 11 WTBA firms were named as “State Finalist Award Winners” on 14 different projects.  Those include Ayers, Baxter & Woodman, Benesch, Civiltech Engineering, CORRE Inc., EXP, GRAEF, Jewell Associates, MSA Professional Services, Mead & Hunt, and SEH.

Winning projects included the huge I-43 reconstruction work in southeast Wisconsin (which had a special ribbon cutting in 2025), a county highway causeway in central Wisconsin, a roundabout and state highway in Vernon County, and many others.

ACEC honored recipients Tuesday night during its Dinner & Design Awards at the Transportation Improvement Conference in Wisconsin Dells.

Congratulations to all winners for their exceptional work!