Next time motorists cross the Sandy Ford Bridge over the Vermilion River between Streator and Leonore, they can boast they are crossing an award-winning bridge.

More than 30 different engineering firms submitted projects for recognition at the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois gala Feb. 16 for the ACEC 2023 Engineering Excellence Awards.

Willett, Hofmann & Associates, Inc. and their its client La Salle County Highway Department, were presented with a Merit Award for the Sandy Ford Bridge project.

The Merit Award was presented to four of WHA’s engineers Brian Converse, president and general manager; Mike Leslie, vice president and manager of WHA’s Moline office; and Erik Larson and Satyam Mandloi, both of whom are engineers in WHA’s structural department.

The Sandy Ford Bridge project consisted of the replacement of a single span 192-foot riveted Pratt Steel through-truss structure with a 214-foot single span steel plate girder structural system supporting a concrete deck on closed concrete abutments. The bridge is a major route servicing many farms, businesses, and other commuters in La Salle County, so replacing the bridge with a safer and newer structure that can handle current truck capacities was imperative for the community.

Willett, Hofmann & Associates, Inc. is a multi-discipline, firm with more than 60 employees working in seven offices (Joliet, Dixon, Moline, Rockford, Freeport, and Sterling, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa) providing professional civil engineering, structural engineering, architecture and professional land surveying services to municipalities, townships, counties, state agencies and private enterprises for more than 85 years.