The eye-popping $1.1 million Gateways Improvement project that brought changeable, colorful lighting and safety improvements to key intersections along US 90A/ South Main in 2021 has caught the eyes of the American Council of Engineering Companies.
The project, designed and overseen by the Houston office of Huitt-Zollars, Inc., has won the professional services firm, and the project itself, a National Recognition Award in the American Council of Engineering Companies 2024 Engineering Excellence Awards competition—the “world’s greatest celebration of engineering excellence.”
The Hiram Clarke/Fort Bend Redevelopment Authority, also known as Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ 25), funded the project and is a tri-party agreement partner with TIRZ 9 and the 5 Corners Improvement District.
Huitt-Zollars, along with TIRZ 25, will be recognized during the 2024 black-tie American Council of Engineering Companies
gala dinner and awards program on May 15 in Washington, D.C.
Huitt-Zollars Vice President Chaitanya Kasturi and engineer Carlos Torres led the firm’s work on the project. DG Medina Construction built it, and Up Art Studio of Houston conceived the changeable lighting scheme, which is programmed by Huitt-Zollars to celebrate special occasions.
“Huitt-Zollars Inc. is proud to accept this national recognition on behalf of our employees and the people with whom they coordinated at TIRZ 25 and (its consultants at) Hawes Hill and Associates LLP,” the firm stated. “The result shows how collaborative effort can produce an iconic project that serves as a sophisticated improvement to the area served by TIRZ 25, TIRZ 9 and the 5 Corners Improvement District.”
The project enhanced lighting, pavement marking, way-finding graphics, landscaping, traffic movement, pedestrian safety and more along US 90A/ South Main at Fondren Road, Hillcroft Avenue, Chimney Rock Road, South Post Oak Road and Hiram Clarke Road.
The project expands the area’s practice of using public art to enhance civic life and encourage economic development in the area. The late Houston City Council Member Larry Green started the citywide tradition of decorating traffic signal boxes with mini-murals. His District J successor, Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum, has continued the work.
The Gateways project is “the newest trademark for a community that values public art,” she has said.
Click here to watch a video of a 2022 Gateways kick-off reception and parade.
