ACEC Illinois Engineering Excellence Award for DCA Runway Replacement Project

Earlier this year, Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) received the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois 2026 Engineering Excellence Honor Award for their DCA Runways Project 1–19 & 15—33 Pavement and Lighting Replacement project. The project, which featured surveying and mapping support from Rice, was designed primarily out of CMT's Springfield, IL office and lead by CMT project manager Rich Thuma. Rich shared the exciting news with an acceptance video on LinkedIn, explaining the project's unique challenges.

This 2-year project required overnight field work to replace two of the busiest main runways in the country, with a different plane landing or departing every 90 seconds. Crews worked in 15-minute shifts to reconstruct 4.5 million square feet of pavement, with 183,00 tons of asphalt placed.

This $94.4 million project for Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) also featured RDM International, ADCI, and E2CR.