1998 Excellence in Highway Design Category 2 - The Rural Highway Merit Award
Reconstruction of Beeline Highway, State Route 87
Mesa to Payson, Arizona
Designer: HDR Engineering, Phoenix;
AGRA Infrastructure, Mesa;
Logan Simpson Design, Inc., Tempe;
Wheat Scharf Associates, Tucson
Contractors: FNF/R.E. Monks, A Joint Venture, Tempe
This highway traverses the environmentally sensitive Tonto National Forest, home to various cacti, hawks and other birds, bats, rattlesnakes, beetles, and desert tortoises. Working closely with the US Forest Service to preserve vegetation and animal life during the project, the designer managed a major cactus relocation program that included saguaro, barrel, and prickly pear varieties. Other aesthetic measures included sculpting rock faces with explosives and then staining them to blend with existing rock.