MRRC, Curtis Pond Dam, and Crescent Connector receive ACEC-VT Awards
At its annual awards gala, the American Council of Engineering Companies – Vermont Section (ACEC-VT) recognized a diverse range of projects developed by our engineering community that will benefit the lives of Vermonters on a daily basis far into the future. DuBois & King won three awards, highlighting our team’s work throughout the state to improve and advance design practices, provide value to people, and positively reflect the role of engineers in society.
Receiving a Grand Award, the Middlebury Resource Recovery Center (MRRC) is a new wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) located in the town’s industrial district near the municipal WWTF. The MRRC serves the food processing industry, a vital and growing source of employment in Middlebury. D&K’s civil, mechanical, electrical, and process engineers worked with the owner and architect and specialty teams to develop a facility on a tight, poorly drained site. The project reduces the burden on the municipal WWTF by treating food-and-beverage process waste and integrates with the local wastewater collection system. With a significant focus on sustainability, the project includes a digester that generates 1,042 KWh from waste products and significantly eliminates the need to truck waste products a long distance, reducing emissions and operating costs for the local food and beverage industry.
While the population of Maple Corner is small, the Grand Award-winning Curtis Pond Dam serves as an iconic and beloved space within the much larger community of Central Vermont. D&K’s dam group worked with local organizations and municipal, state, and federal team members to rehabilitate the seeping, aging stone masonry and earthen dam. It took more than a decade and significant community effort to secure funding to rehabilitate the dam. Following significant storms in July 2023 and 2024, the team worked with the community to redesign the anchoring system following pandemic-induced cost increases and to navigate the challenges and risks immediately. The project maintained the original stone masonry structure and constructed a new concrete mass-anchored wall to substantially improve resilience and support new VT Dam Safety regulations.
The Crescent Connector Road received a Merit Award for successfully reducing pressure on the Five Corners Intersection in the City of Essex Junction, while building new, highly accessible frontage and utilities in the urban core for new housing and businesses. Serving as a bypass to Five Corners for south-to-east travelers, the FHWA-funded project redesigns 1,000 LF and creates 850 LF of new urban roadway along Railroad Street. The D&K team advanced the project through a NEPA Environmental Assessment, supported significant coordination with the railroad, including right-of-way acquisition and rail signal coordination, and provided a significant level of public engagement programming.
