On October 8, the Department of Transportation announced its Ohiopyle Multimodal Gateway Project is among the Top 12 finalists in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ 2021 America’s Transportation Awards competition.

The Ohiopyle Project is up for the People’s Choice Award to be decided by online voting by the public.  Cast your vote for the Ohiopyle State Park Project here.

The Top 12 finalists – whittled down from 80 nominees from 35 state DOTs via four U.S. regional contests – now compete for the Grand Prize and the People's Choice Award. Both prizes come with a $10,000 cash award, for a charity or transportation-related scholarship of the winners’ choosing.

“We hope that Pennsylvanians will turn out to support this project by voting in the competition,” said PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian. “This recognition truly reflects the department’s hard work to improve the public’s enjoyment of this amazing state park.”

The Ohiopyle Multimodal Gateway Project was recognized in the category of Community Development/Quality of Life for providing safer multimodal options around this popular state park.

“It is great to see recognition for the important work done to improve access and traffic flow at Ohiopyle State Park,” Dunn said. “We hope many of the millions who visit the park support this project by voting in this competition and also by spreading the word about the access and safety improvements that enhance the park experience.”

Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the competition evaluates projects in three categories: Quality of Life/Community Development; Best Use of Technology & Innovation; and Operations Excellence.

The projects are also divided into three sizes: small (projects costing up to $25 million); medium (projects that cost between $26 million to $200 million); and large (projects costing more than $200 million).

An independent panel of transportation industry experts will select the Grand Prize winner, while the general public will decide the People's Choice Award winner through online voting.

Online votes will be weighted to each state's population, allowing for greater competition between states with larger and smaller populations. AASHTO will announce the winners during its Annual Meeting in San Diego, October 26-29.

Online voting ends at 11:59 p.m. on October 25.

Cast your vote for the Ohiopyle State Park Project here. Individuals can cast no more than one vote per device per day.

To learn more about the America's Transportation Awards projects, visit the America’s Transportation Awards website.

Visit the Ohiopyle State Park webpage for more information on the park.

(Photo: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)

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[Posted: October 8, 2021]

10/11/2021