U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


Skip to content U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway AdministrationU.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration

Design

 

Excellence in Highway Design

Biennial Awards

This program was conducted by the Federal Highway Administration to encourage excellence in the design of highway- related facilities and to recognize projects that contribute effectively to a more pleasing highway experience.

Since the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials also conducts an awards program for design, FHWA discontinued the Excellence in Highway Design program after 2010. For more information about AASHTO's Design Awards, please refer to their Web site: http://design.transportation.org/Pages/Awards.aspx

The Excellence in Highway Design Biennial Awards was a national program conducted by the Federal Highway Administration from 1984 to 2010 to recognize exemplary design processes and practices. The objective of this program is to feature sound decision making employed to overcome challenges and maximize opportunities in the planning, development, and implementation of highway improvement projects. In honoring these projects, those processes and practices that elicit such high quality results are highlighted, and the application of them may be cultivated on future efforts.

Efforts to honor the best the highway community has to offer began in February 1967 when, inspired by Lady Bird Johnson's crusade to beautify the Nation's highways, Secretary of Transportation Alan Boyd announced the start of a competition, called "The Highway and Its Environment," to recognize the efforts and achievements of public agencies and private organizations in protecting, restoring, and enhancing highway beauty. In that competition and its broader successor, "Excellence in Highway Design", the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has had the privilege of showcasing hundreds of outstanding examples of highways, bridges, bicycle paths, pedestrian facilities, and roadside facilities that demonstrate what we can do when we unleash the creativity and sensitivity of the thousands of men and women we call "the highway community."

Awards program results:

The Excellence in Highway Design Biennial Awards were suspended in 2000 in deference to the Design for Transportation National Awards

Updated: 06/27/2017
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000