The City of Phoenix selected Olsson as the lead consultant to provide preliminary design services for the 6.89-mile Sonoran Boulevard project and final design for the 2.42-mile central segment. The project began at 15th Avenue and ended at Cave Creek Road.

Our work included designing three new precast, prestressed girder bridges that would comply with American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials guidelines. Along the northern side of the roadway, we also designed a shared-use path that was more than 5 miles long and 10 feet wide. Ten wash-crossing bridges were designed as part of the shared-use path. Designing a new 69 kilovolt (kV) line throughout most of the corridor involved extensive coordination with Arizona Public Service. In addition, conduits were placed for the city’s future intelligent transportation system requirements.

Our preliminary evaluation of the proposed roadway profile in the East Sonoran Parkway Concept Report (prepared by others) resulted in lowering the proposed roadway profile by approximately 5 feet while still maintaining the desired goals of the project. Lowering the roadway profile significantly lessened the earthwork borrow needs and allowed for the elimination of one vehicular bridge. The bridge was replaced with a standard Arizona Department of Transportation box culvert, which resulted in significant project cost savings. Also, our approach in crossing one of the floodplains within the project limits significantly reduced the length of another bridge that was proposed in the concept report, thus providing additional savings to the City of Phoenix.

Olsson’s creative engineering solutions saved the city $20 million while still maintaining the overall project goals.

This project has received multiple awards, including the American Public Works Association (APWA) 2014 National Transportation ($25 million – $75 million category) Project of the Year; the APWA 2014 Arizona Transportation ($25 million – $75 million category) Project of the Year; and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) 2013 Award of Merit and People’s Choice.