Award-winning Engineers: Alaska projects stand out in the crowd.

• Author: Campbell, Melissa

It was a challenging concept, to say the least. How to build an indoor shooting range that keeps the air fresh and is easy to heat, and in Fairbanks, no less, where temperatures drop into double digits below zero.

"The real problem is the smoke," said Boyd Morgenthaler, of AMC Engineers, the firm hired to find a solution. "(Shooting) indoors, it doesn't take much activity before the whole place is filled with smoke. And that's bad because that smoke contains lead."

Breathing too much of that smoke can result in lead poisoning. AMC came up with a unique ventilation system to filter lead-laden smoke and recirculate much of that warm air back into the building, cleaning the air of dangerous lead and carbon monoxide while saving heating costs in the process.

The design granted the firm a top honor for the region and an honorable mention for the nation from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers.

"That is a very hard thing to get," Morgenthaler said. "The ASHRAE to our industry is the equivalent to the AMA (American Medical Association) in the medical field."

In more than 21 years of operations, AMC has won more than two dozen awards for work done in Alaska. And the firm is one of many Alaska engineering firms that have received national attention for unique and challenging designs.

The Whittier Access project received one of the more well known, and widespread, awards in 2001, when it took the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. It is the highest award given by the organization, and recognizes civil engineering projects that contribute to the community and solve design challenges. It was selected among 17 projects in the nation. Past winners of this award include the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the World Trade Center in New York.

The Whittier project converted the 2.5-mile Anton Anderson Memorial railroad tunnel to allow motor vehicle access. It is the only combined highway/railroad tunnel in the nation and is the longest tunnel in North America. The Whittier project received at least a half-dozen other national awards and recognition for the unique work.

Major contributors to the project included the state Department of Transportation and...