D&K receives the highest honor and two Grand Awards at ACEC-VT Engineering Excellence Awards Banquet
DuBois & King was honored to receive two Grand Awards and the prestigious Green Mountain Award at the 2026 Engineering Excellence Awards Banquet hosted by the American Council of Engineering Companies, Vermont Section (ACEC-VT) on June 4. The annual ACEC-VT awards ceremony celebrates notable Vermont projects that advance the engineering profession both technically and socially. The entries are submitted according to category and evaluated by their “Uniqueness and/or Innovative Applications of New or Existing Techniques; Future Value to the Engineering Profession and Enhanced Public Awareness and Enthusiasm of the Role of Engineering; Social, Economic, and Sustainable Development Considerations; Complexity; and Successful Fulfillment of Client/Owner Needs.”
D&K’s Smugglers’ Notch/VT 108 Truck Stuckage Reduction Chicane Trial project, led by Project Manager Ken Robie, PE, and Transportation Engineer Stephanie Solla, PE, took home a Grand Award. The project investigated physical measures to prevent stuckages along the steep, narrow pass flanked with large boulders, creating pinch points on a seasonally maintained state highway between Stowe and Cambridge. Every year, an average of eight drivers of prohibited over-length vehicles ignore signage and become stuck, blocking traffic for hours. Working with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, the LCPC and adjoining stakeholders, D&K evaluated roundabout and chicane concepts to redirect over-length vehicles back down the mountain. The team determined chicanes would require a smaller footprint, would be easy to construct as a temporary measure, and would be cost effective to implement. After completing the study, temporary chicanes were constructed in a two-year pilot project during which only three stuckages occurred.
Receiving the annual Green Mountain Award for the best overall engineering project in the State of Vermont, the Salisbury Square Affordable Housing and Microgrid project, led by Project Manager Chris Rivet, PE (civil and environmental engineering), and Electrical Project Manager Elijah Daniels, also earned a Grand Award in its category. The project powers a new, affordable, and sustainable housing development consisting of three four-unit, low- and median-income apartment buildings. D&K designed the integration of a parallel AC/DC microgrid—a first of its kind in Vermont—to serve the development.
The DC grid was designed to be powered by a series of solar panels on the roofs of the buildings and carports generating 140kW of electricity. Lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries (a safer and longer-lasting alternative to lithium-ion batteries) store surplus energy in each building and are connected to smart control systems that allow the buildings to share power. The AC microgrid is connected to the main power grid, and inverters in each building maintain operation on either AC or DC power, as needed. DC appliances were installed in the apartment units for maximum efficiency from the solar-powered DC grid, and energy-efficient modular buildings reduce the overall power needed. The microgrid currently supports 12 apartment units plus the property management office but is designed with the capacity to expand to nine single-family homes. D&K adapted the initial plans—provided by international engineers—to fit the specific site conditions, budgetary considerations, and US standards and codes, and addressed design challenges as they arose.
