The Sanibel Causeway Emergency Response project recently received a Regional America’s Transportation Award in the Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium Category for 2023 from the Southern Association of State Transportation Officials (SASHTO).

Working with the contractor joint venture team, H&H provided emergency engineering design services to restore the causeway, which suffered extensive damage during the Hurricane Ian in 2022. A combination of structural failures of the existing mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining walls, anchored concrete sheet pile seawalls along the bridge approaches, and large full breaches of the earthen causeway and roadways between the bridges prevented vehicle access to Sanibel Island.

H&H collaborated with the contractor joint venture team, FDOT District 1 and Central Office, and our design partner to identify and understand the causes of the damage, design temporary repairs that could be rapidly constructed to restore service to emergency services and the general public as quickly and safely as practical, that could be implemented in a manner that permitted the construction of economical and durable permanent repairs.

This year’s regional winners were selected from a pool of 19 projects nominated by nine states in SASHTO’s region. Once all the regional awards programs have concluded, the “Top 12” list of finalists will be announced – comprised of the three highest-scoring projects from each region. Those top 12 contenders will compete for the two national 2023 America’s Transportation Awards prizes.

Congratulations to FDOT and the entire response team!