AASHTO Journal - Mid-America DOT Projects Win Nat'l Competition Honors

Twelve state department of transportation projects in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin took home top regional honors in the 2026 America’s Transportation Awards competition.

[Above photo by the Illinois DOT]

Selected from 27 projects submitted by 10 states in the Mid America Association of State Transportation Officials or MAASTO region, those 12 winning entries are part of a record 127 nominations from 45 state DOTs in this year’s overall competition.

Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the annual America’s Transportation Awards contest honors transportation infrastructure projects that deliver meaningful benefits to communities.

“For almost two decades, the America’s Transportation Awards has highlighted the innovative work state DOTs do to improve communities and enhance the lives of the people who live and visit them. But the truth is, these projects are just a fraction of the incredible work done by state DOTs every year,” explained Jim Tymon, AASHTO executive director, in a statement.

“AASHTO is proud to recognize the diverse and forward-thinking projects that are improving safety, mobility, and quality of life in communities across the country,” he said. “As we look forward to the passage of a federal surface transportation reauthorization bill, this year’s winners underscore the importance of sustained federal investment in transportation and demonstrate how those resources are delivering meaningful benefits to residents, businesses, and travelers nationwide.”

AASHTO said America’s Transportation Awards entries compete in four categories – Quality of Life/Community Development, Operations Excellence, Best Use of Technology & Innovation, and Safety – that highlight the essential role transportation plays in improving mobility, safety, and quality of life for all users.

All nominated projects first compete at the regional level against projects of their own size: “Small” (projects costing up to $10 million), “Medium” (projects costing between $10 million and $100 million), and “Large” (projects costing more than $100 million).

This year’s winning MAASTO regional projects are:

Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Highway 371 Hackensack, Minnesota Corridor Improvement Project (Quality of Life/Community Development, Small Project)
Michigan Department of Transportation’s Fruit Ridge Avenue Over I-96 Rebuild and Modernization (Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium Project)
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Bridging Mountains, Connecting Lives: The Reconstruction of US 460 (Quality of Life/Community Development, Large Project)
Ohio Department of Transportation’s Ohio State Route 165 High Water Notification (Operations Excellence, Small Project)
Indiana Department of Transportation’s Domain: Maintenance Operations (D:MO) (Operations Excellence, Medium Project)
Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Twin Ports Interchange Project (Operations Excellence, Large Project)
Minnesota Department of Transportation’s MnDOT Safety Culture (Best Use of Technology and Innovation, Small Project)
Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s I-894, 84th to 35th Street (Best Use of Technology and Innovation, Medium Project)
Michigan Department of Transportation’s I-96 Flex Route (Best Use of Technology and Innovation, Large Project)
Missouri Department of Transportation’s Missouri Route 13, U.S. Route 160 and Missouri Route 248 Roundabout Construction in Stone County (Safety, Small Project)
Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Rock Ridge Transportation Improvements (Safety, Medium Project)
Illinois Department of Transportation’s Improving Safety, CREATEing Opportunity: The Forest Hill Flyover (Safety, Large Project)

The projects taking home MAASTO awards are the third set of regional winners, with only one regional contest remaining this summer.

Once all the regional winners are announced, the three top scoring winners from each region will advance to the Top 12 finalist round.

That group of 12 state DOT projects, which will be revealed in early September, will then compete for two national honors in the 2026 America’s Transportation Awards contest: The Grand Prize, chosen by an independent panel of transportation industry judges, and the People’s Choice Award, decided through online public voting.

AASHTO will reveal those two winners at its annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, this November. The winners of both of those awards will each receive $10,000 to donate to a scholarship fund or charitable cause of their choice.

Visit https://americastransportationawards.org/ to learn more about this year’s MAASTO nominees.