Spellacy Bridge honored nationally by ENR
Engineering News-Record, an American weekly magazine that is well known for its knowledge of construction projects throughout North America, tabbed Spellacy Bridge as one of its national award winners, a first such honor for Holmes County.
Engineering News-Record is an American weekly magazine that provides news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide. It is widely regarded as one of the construction industry’s most authoritative publications.
As such, to be among the projects chosen as ENR’s finest is a major accomplishment.
Holmes County can now lay claim to one such honor.
After many hours of review, discussion and debate, industry judges chose 20 projects as ENR’s Best of the Best, representing the pinnacle of design and construction achievement in their respective categories from across the U.S.
Among those chosen was Spellacy Bridge, a massive covered bridge on Wally Road near Loudonville that has already won numerous accolades for its beauty, style, grace and sturdy construction.
“To be one of the top construction projects in the nation is a huge honor,” said Chris Young, Holmes County engineer. “It’s special to Holmes County. We’ve never won anything like this.”
“Congratulations to you and your team,” Commissioner Dave Hall said to Young. “I call that the Oscars of Engineering. That’s a huge honor.”
The ENR competition began last March with a call for entries, which resulted in more than 800 project teams submitting their best work to regional Best Projects competitions.
In each of 10 regions, editors assembled a panel of judges to select winners in 18 construction sector categories among entries completed between May 2023 and May 2024. Projects also were chosen for special awards citing Excellence in Safety and Excellence in Sustainability.
Regional winners chosen in each category then moved up to the national competition — more than 200 projects in total. A new group of 19 judges from across the U.S. and industry sectors examined each project to choose the best of the best based on teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation and quality.
Among the judges were many industry leaders and safety experts well known for their knowledge.
Spellacy Bridge Reconstruction was originally submitted by Kokosing Construction Co. Inc. to ENR Midwest, where it won the regional title and advanced to the national level, where it also was recognized as the winner of the Small Project Award.
While it may be a Small Project winner according to ENR, it is a major project for Holmes County, and the honor adds to the growing accolades being heaped upon Spellacy Bridge, Holmes County and Kokosing.
“It’s a special project, one that we knew would be something special when we started it,” Young said. “So far the bridge project has won six different awards, and this only adds to the power and dedication of all of the work that has gone into it.”
Young said the awards are meaningful, but hearing from those who visit Spellacy Bridge and comment on its elegance is just as meaningful.
“We’ve really received a lot of wonderful comments from people who think it is beautiful,” Young said. “I’m pretty proud of this for Holmes County. It’s a beautiful addition to what brings people to visit our county.”
Spellacy Bridge joins an array of construction projects from coast to coast.
The 20 winners for these illustrious honors and their respective categories include the following:
—Airport/Transit: Northwest Phase II Extension Light Rail Transit, located in Phoenix.
—Cultural/Worship: Missouri Botanical Garden Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center, located in St. Louis, Missouri.
—Energy/Industrial: Baytown Supermodule Furnace, located in Baytown, Texas.
—Excellence in Safety: Midtown Union, located in Atlanta.
—Excellence in Sustainability: County of San Mateo, County Office Building 3 (COB3), located in Redwood City, California.
—Government/Public Building: County of San Diego Southeastern Live Well Center, located in San Diego.
—Health Care: Mayo Clinic AZ Bold Forward West Expansion, located in Phoenix.
—Higher Education/Research: Advanced Engineering Building at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, located in Las Vegas.
—Replacement of Tower Elevators & Misc.: Rehab at the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge (MP-09), located in Brooklyn, New York.
—Interior/Tenant Improvement: Google, St. John’s Terminal, located in New York City.
—K-12 Education: Bard High School Early College, located in Washington, D.C.
—Landscape/Urban Development: East Midtown Greenway, located in New York City.
—Manufacturing: United Therapeutics Phase 5 cGMP Warehouse, located in Durham, North Carolina.
—Office/Retail/Mixed-Use: The Aerie On-Mountain Restaurant, located in Frisco (Copper Mountain), Colorado.
—Renovation/Restoration: Victory Lofts, located in Johnson City, New York.
—Residential/Hospitality: The Fifth Avenue Hotel, located in New York City.
—Small Project: Spellacy Bridge Reconstruction, located in Holmes County, Ohio.
—Specialty Construction: Minnesota Zoo Treetop Trail, located in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
—Sports/Entertainment: Colorado Convention Center Expansion, located in Denver.
—Water/Environment: Denver Water Northwater Treatment Plant, located in Arvada, Colorado.
Winning projects will be featured in more depth in the March 17, 2025 issue of ENR. Also in that issue, ENR editors, in collaboration with the judges, will select three Project of the Year finalists that will include The Project of the Year.
The winners will celebrate together in New York City on March 27 when project teams will receive their awards at a brunch at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City, and later be recognized, along with the Top 25 Newsmakers and Award of Excellence winner, during ENR’s annual Award of Excellence Gala at Pier Sixty.