Design-Build Institute of America selects DOWL Murphy Corridor Improvements project for National Award of Merit
The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) has selected Murphy Corridor Improvements, a project DOWL worked on for the City of Bend, Oregon, for a National Award of Merit in the Transportation category. This award recognizes the team’s efforts as exemplifying the DBIA’s best practices for schedule and cost performance, teamwork, problem solving, and more.
This win puts the project in the running for the organization’s National Award of Excellence in its category, as well as Project of the Year and other special awards. The other nominees in the Transportation (Other than Aviation) category are a $55 million bridge project in South Carolina and a $280 million highway project in Southern California, putting Murphy Corridor Improvements and DOWL in elite company. Selections will be honored at the 2022 Design-Build Conference & Expo in Las Vegas this November.
The Murphy Corridor Improvements project was completed under a Progressive Design-Build (PDB) contract, a relatively recent variation on the traditional Design-Build process where the contractor and their design consultant team are selected very early in project development. In partnership with the owner, the contractor’s team aims to maximize the use of project funds. For the Murphy project, the contractor (a joint venture of K&E Excavating and Hamilton Construction) enhanced and improved the SE Murphy Road corridor in Bend, extending the road to the east, changing three intersections to roundabouts, adding a bridge over the BNSF railroad line, and making other multimodal enhancements, which resulted in a safer, better-connected neighborhood and city. Through the PDB process and careful teamwork, the project team was able to deliver the $32.2 million project 18 months earlier than initially planned and 4% under budget.
Led by Design Lead/Project Manager Justin Mason, DOWL’s efforts included nearly every member of the Bend office staff and involved contributions from dozens of other staffers throughout the company’s other offices.
“One of the founding pillars of our company charter is Innovation,” said DOWL President and CEO Stewart Osgood. “Over the last seven years we have had the good fortune to work with the City of Bend to innovate regarding the project delivery model on public works projects. Through this outside-the-box thinking, the City has been able to deliver many projects to this thriving community in a better-faster-cheaper manner. Kudos to the City of Bend, K&E Excavating, and to the entire design team. This is what project success looks like!”
The nomination process was spearheaded by DOWL staff with significant involvement from K&E Excavating and Hamilton Construction Company, as well as City of Bend staff. The submitted package of information included responses to dozens of questions about the project’s background, execution, and results, totaling 7,000 words (nearly 30 pages of text) and dozens of images and drawings.
