It is said that highways are the backbone of an economy. To ensure a fast, safe, and accessible highway, it is mandatory to put a great effort into proper design and innovation. It seems like all of the out-of-the-box thinking, innovations, and engineering views meet at a point while constructing the Kew Gardens Interchange project. As a result, it won several prestigious awards.
While constructing or reconstructing a highway project, several factors need to be in the mind of an engineer. For highways, keeping safe stopping horizontal distance, vertical clearance, and alignment are the most critical factors. Moreover, an engineer has to keep in mind the possible locations where speed could be limited and therefore needs to design accordingly so that congestion of the vehicles does not happen.
Reconstruction impacts traffic movement along the Grand Central Parkway, Van Wyck Expressway, Jackie Robinson Parkway, and Union Turnpike, including eliminating stop conditions from the ramps. The works also included the construction of 11 bridges, of which five are new, and six are replaced. All of the road improvement factors such as widening the roadway section, maintaining the safe stopping distance, traffic signs, and street lights were also included. Kew Garden Interchange Project Phase 4 accompanied all of the factors, and this project eliminates the congestion around ramps. For pedestrians and bikers, there is a shared used path so that crossing the slow-moving traffic can be eliminated. Most importantly, with the completion of this reconstruction project, traffic congestion will be minimal, and highways will definitely be better for having a ride or transporting goods. What a grand design and construction!!
In recognition of the Kew Garden Interchange Project Phase 4, it received several awards and grabbed the attention of the engineering community. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the greatly acknowledged association of civil engineers, awarded this project ASCE Metropolitan Section Construction Award for the year 2021-22.” The design collaboration, innovation, complexity, and successful construction of this vital piece of New York City infrastructure are the basis for selecting the Kew Gardens Interchange Project to receive this most prestigious award” as said in the official letter signed by the President, ASCE Met section. The awarding gala was held on June 22, 2022, where they recognized the project as one of the best projects that impact people’s daily lives.
The Governor of New York had a press release regarding the project that says, “Kew Garden Interchange Project Phase 4 will ensure enhanced safety and will ease travel through one of the most important and complex corridors of New York. In the press release, it is also mentioned that the construction of new ramps will eliminate the bottleneck condition of the interchange and, therefore, will reduce traffic congestion”.
Be noted Kew Garden Interchange Project received another prestigious award from The Municipal Engineers of the City of New York. The Kew Garden Interchange Project got awarded the ‘Project of the Year 2021’.
Everyone knows for a highway project, it is essential to have a vastly experienced Resident Engineer who will look after everything that includes in the project. The Resident Engineer for the project was Syed Salahuddin, PE, a member of ASCE and a senior member of IEEE. Mr. Salahuddin is a vastly experienced engineer with a career of 16 years. A student of New York University of batch 2008, Mr. Salahuddin accomplished several projects and has emerged as a civil engineer working on constructing and inspecting massive infrastructures such as Bridges, Tunnels, and Highways. He works professionally, prepares engineering designs, plans, drawings, specifications, and work sequence safety regulations, and estimates the exact cost. He can coordinate various construction teams and possesses credible project management skills with the ability to plan, execute, and finish projects timely and within budgetary constraints. Widely recognized for teamwork with deep engineering knowledge, Mr. Salahuddin was responsible and accountable for the Kew Garden Interchange Project Phase 4. The success of this project is the hard work of many people who contributed their brains and hard work, but special thanks go to Mr. Salahuddin as a Resident Engineer.
Having a couple of engineering awards will surely encourage the engineers associated with Kew Garden Interchange Project. Solving the existing problem with an engineering viewpoint to ease people’s lives is essential, and this project indeed got full marks in this regard by saving time commuting through the highways. Moreover, as the commuting time is getting shorter, transportation costs would be much less, which will surely benefit the locals and tourists. As a result, New York City’s overall economy will be positively impacted.