IDS Receives Silver ACEC Design Award

IDS received the Silver American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Design Award in the Special Projects category for the Holman Street Improvements project. Holman Street near downtown Houston runs between two highways, Spur 527 and I-69, dead-ending into the latter. Located in the fast-rejuvenating area known as Midtown, Holman is a major thoroughfare with residential and business land uses, Houston Community College’s (HCC) main campus and an adjacent METRO light rail station.

Our client, the Midtown Redevelopment Authority sought to enhance mobility and economic development within the 771-acre Midtown area by using incremental taxes to improve infrastructure, such as roads, sidewalks, lighting, landscaping and public parks. They identified Holman Street as a key corridor essential to establishing a foundation for future development and improving access to transit and pedestrian safety.

The Authority initiated two separate street enhancement projects in 2011 (composed of three segments). They partnered with HCC on the six-block segment of Holman between Main and Crawford that intersects the campus. IDS Engineering Group was selected to design improvements to two Holman segments on either end of the HCC project, from Spur 527 to Main, and Crawford to I-69.

Each year, ACEC hosts their Engineering Excellence Awards competition which recognizes engineering firms for projects that showcase various attributes such as innovation, complexity, achievement, and value. A panel of 20-30 judges with experience in the industry evaluate and rank all submissions and select the winners – 20 Honor Awards and 16 Grand Awards.

Congratulations to our in-house team who worked on this project as well as all other awarded firms.