Seattle's New U.S. Courthouse Crowned Nation's Best Engineering Achievement; New Downtown Landmark Designed to Withstand Terrorist Attack

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2006--A gleaming new 23-story U.S. Courthouse complex in downtown Seattle was named the year's most impressive engineering achievement at the 40th Annual Engineering Excellence Awards, sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).

Representatives from Seattle-based Magnusson Klemencic Associates received ACEC's "Grand Conceptor Award" during ceremonies in Washington D.C. last week attended by more than 800 engineering firm owners and principals and dignitaries from around the world.

The new courthouse, featuring a soaring all-glass lobby with reflecting pool, and column-free courtrooms with 20-foot-high ceilings, is one of the safest structures ever built, specifically designed to withstand power of nature or the explosion of a terrorist attack.

In answering a General Services Administration (GSA) requirement for a state-of-the-art facility, the embodies a never-before-used structural system that protects it against bomb blasts and progressive building collapse. Explosion resistance was, in fact, a primary consideration in every decision regarding building materials.

Results from independent tests funded by GSA showed that the new structural system exceeded performance of all steel structural methods currently in the building code. GSA subsequently has adopted the new system as a model for all future secure government building construction.

Other 2006 Engineering Excellence Award Winners are:

Grand Award Winners:

Thornton-Tomasetti Group, Inc. -- New York, N.Y.
Taipei 101 - Taipei, Taiwan
The structural design for the world's is the world's tallest building
at 1,667 feet, meets the challenge of supporting the massive structure
on weak geologic formations, and being able to withstand the frequent
occurrence of typhoons and earthquakes common to the region.

CH2M HILL, Broomfield, Colo.
Rocky Flats Closure Project, Golden, Colo.
A former 385-acre nuclear weapon production site littered with more
than 700 contaminated buildings, polluted soil and groundwater was
transformed into a wildlife habitat as the largest, fastest, safest
environmental cleanup of its kind in the world.

CH2M HILL - Englewood, Colo.
Standley Lake Dam Improvement; Westminster, Colo.
Long-standing stability issues of leaks and slope movements which
plagued the dam for decades were eliminated at the dam, formerly the
largest earth dam in the world - without disruption of water service
for the lake's 250,000 area customers.

Stanley Consultants -- Las Vegas
MAX Rapid Transit System -- Las Vegas
Called a "higher-grade transit solution" Las Vegas' new Metropolitan
Area Express (MAX) Rapid Transit System includes 10 low-floor
rubber-tire vehicles that operate similar to a light-rail, but with
the lower cost and flexibility of a bus. Vehicles are equipped with a
cutting-edge optical guidance feature for automatic steering, and a
transit signal priority system.

Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc.  -- Columbia, S.C.
Arthur Ravenel Jr., Bridge - Charleston, S.C.
The 3.5-mile-long bridge across the Cooper River in Charleston is the
largest cable-stayed bridge in North America. It also is one of the
first major Design-Build projects in North America, and is the single
largest transportation infrastructure project in South Carolina
history. The new showpiece of the "Low Country" replaces two outdated
truss bridges, and meets extreme wind, ship-collision, and earthquake
safety restrictions.

CH2M HILL - Redding, Calif.
Iron Mountain Mine Slickrock Creek Reservoir -- Redding, Calif.
A new reservoir, a 151-foot-high embankment dam; a 15-acre-foot
sediment basin; clean water diversions; and the capping of 400,000
cubic yards of arsenic-laden decomposed rock helped remediate the
4,000-acre Iron Mountain Mine Superfund site, formerly the nation's
largest discharger of acid and metals into surface waters, resulting
in massive fish kills and imperiled municipal water supplies.

HNTB Corporation - Minneapolis, Minn.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Light Rail Transit Tunnels
and Lindbergh Station - Minneapolis, Minn.
The project features the largest machine-bored tunnels in Minnesota,
and a 2,520-square-foot station at Lindbergh Terminal - the state's
largest underground public structure. Located 65 feet beneath the
nation's 8th most busiest airport, the result is a new primary
regional transportation link between downtown Minneapolis, the airport
and the Mall of America.

2006 Honor Award Winners Are:

Parametrix/Parsons Brinckerhoff (Joint Venture), Bellevue, Wash.
Alaskan Way Viaduct & Seawall Replacement Draft EIS, Seattle, Wash.

HKM Engineering Inc., Billings, Mont.
Beartooth Highway Emergency Repair Project,Red Lodge, Mont.

Hammel Green and Abrahamson, Inc.,  Minneapolis, Minn.
Walker Art Center Expansion, Minneapolis, Minn.

Lincolne Scott, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii
Gateway Distributed & Renewable Energy Center, Kona, Hawaii.

The Louis Berger Group, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Hai Van Pass Tunnel Project, Hue-Danang, Vietnam.

HDR, Inc., Bellevue, Wash.
I-405 Bellevue Direct Access, Bellevue, Wash.

Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, San Francisco, Ca.
Lake Bard Hypolimion Oxygenation, Thousand Oaks, Ca.

KPFF Consulting Engineers, Portland, Ore.
New Columbia, Portland, Ore.

Harley Ellis Devereaux - Southfield, Mich.
William Beaumont Hospital South Tower Addition, Royal Oak, Mich.

MACTEC, Kennesaw, Ga.
Atlantic Station Brownfield Redevelopment, Atlanta.

Haley & Aldrich, Inc., Boston
Walkers Brook Crossing Landfill Redevelopment, Reading, Mass.

Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc., State College, Pa.
University Area Joint Authority Beneficial Reuse Project, State
College, Pa.

FIGG/Vollmer (Joint Venture), Tallahassee, Fla.
Victory Bridge Replacement Project, Perth Amboy-Sayreville, N.J.

Schiller and Hersh Associates, Inc., Oreland, Pa.
Spring-Ford 5-7 and K-4 Schools Geothermal Project, Royersford, Pa.

MWH and McGoodwin, Williams and Yates, Inc., Sacramento, Calif.
Beaver Water District, Raw Water Intake Project, Lowell, Ark.

CDM - West Palm Beach, Fla.
Wetlands-Based Indirect Potable Reuse, West Palm Beach, Fla.

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is the business association of America's engineering industry, representing approximately 5,500 independent engineering companies throughout the United States engaged in the development of America's transportation, environmental, industrial, and other infrastructure. Founded in 1910 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., ACEC is a national federation of 51 state and regional organizations.