Sitka's Blue Lake Expansion Project wins grand award for Best Construction Project of 2015.

• Position: CONSTRUCTION

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Sitka's Blue Lake Expansion Project was the most impressive construction project of 2015, the Associated General Contractors of America announced March 10. As a result, the project's contractor, Barnard Construction Company, was the Alliant Build America Grand Award winner and best Federal and Heavy Renovation project. This project was one of twenty-three winners to receive an award and one of nine to receive a Merit Award.

"The contractors working on these projects stood out among their peers by demonstrating the finest traits of our industry: skill, dedication, and ingenuity," said Charles Greco, the association's president and chairman of San Antonio-based Linbeck Group. "This is the kind of project that inspires other contractors to push even harder as they work to improve our built environment."

Barnard Construction Company raised the then-145-foot-tall Blue Lake Dam by 83 feet to its maximum geotechnical height and built a 15.9 megawatt powerhouse. Construction was undertaken on a fast-track schedule under the intense scrutiny of a heavily-invested public, reliant on the dam for power and on Blue Lake for drinking water. The team successfully completed construction in difficult conditions including the dam's remote island location in one of the rainiest locations in the United States. Throughout construction, there were no interruptions to the city's drinking water and the team was mindful of the natural fish barrier just below the dam, using construction methods that allowed salmon to spawn downstream of the dam.

"Celebrating these well-deserved accomplishments promotes continued creativity...