In The News

We’re proud to share that the Howard Street Tunnel Modernization Project our Skanska and Fay construction joint venture delivered last fall for CSX was awarded 1st Place in the prestigious Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) Construction Innovation Awards. AGC judges recognized our development and use of a one-of-its-kind, railcar-mounted gantry crane to increase the historic 130-year-old tunnel’s clearance to enable passage of double-stack freight cars. The award was presented to the team at the AGC Annual Convention in Orlando.

During an amazing 233 consecutive days of 24/7 work last year, the Skanska and Fay construction team used the built-for-purpose gantry crane in the tunnel’s tight confines to move and place 1,188 precast concrete inverts that were more than 20 feet wide and weighed approximately 10 tons each. The crane also enabled workers to handle other large construction materials and components, including concrete, grout, and railroad track panels.

Delivered through a Progressive Design-Build procurement, collaboration, fast decision-making, and constructability solutions among the owner, designers, and construction team enabled Skanska and Fay to substantially complete construction more than a month early and two years ahead of the original schedule.

Through this and many more innovations, the project achieved the goals of CSX, doubling its container shipping capacity, and the State of Maryland, strengthening the Port of Baltimore’s competitiveness to handle 160,000 more shipping containers annually, without adding new track miles or rights-of-way.

Congratulations to the other two Innovation Awards winners. We are grateful to our project team and many partners for their dedication, collaboration, and creativity that made this achievement possible.