KINGMAN – The Phoenix company Haley & Aldrich, Inc. has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 58th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA). The award comes for an environmental remediation project at Kingman, Ariz., municipal airport.
In the late 1940s, thousands of surplus World War II aircraft were recycled for their aluminum content at the airport. Waste from smelting the aluminum, called aluminum dross, was left on-site. Aluminum dross contains high levels of toxic metals, including cadmium and lead, and reacts with water to generate heat and explosive gas. In 2000, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor buried the aluminum dross on-site and capped it with asphalt in unmarked trenches. Shortly afterward, heavy summer rains infiltrated the asphalt cap, mixed with the buried aluminum dross, and caused the apron to heave and emit toxic fumes.
Based on its extensive site analysis, Haley & Aldrich developed a remediation strategy for the safe removal and off-site disposal of more than 96,000 tons of hazardous waste. Excavated material was stored at a temporary on-site stockpile location, then loaded onto trucks for transport to a rail access area where it was loaded onto railcars and transported off-site for disposal. The use of rail was key in reducing disposal costs, truck traffic, and noise and air pollution. The excavated areas were then backfilled and repaved, restoring airport operations.
The project is eligible for additional honors as part of 194 entries this year representing engineering excellence from throughout the nation and the world. Judging for the awards program took place in February and was conducted by a national 32-member panel of built environment leaders, along with experts from government, the media, and academia. Award criteria focused on uniqueness, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.
Recognition of all award winners—including 16 Honor Awards, eight Grand Awards, and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement—will take place at the EEA Gala, to be held at the Grand Hyatt, Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 20.
