The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, the agency responsible for constructing the extension of the Los Angeles Metro Gold Line, received five distinguished industry awards this year for its Gold Line Bridge. This 584-linear foot structure is the first completed element of the 11.5-mile light rail extension between Pasadena and Azusa, linking the current terminus at the Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena and the station under construction in downtown Arcadia, CA.

The bridge received these honors: Engineering News-Record, Best Project in Southern California, Highways/Bridges; American Council of Engineering Companies, 2013 Engineering Achievement Award; Construction Management Association of America, 2013 Project Achievement Award; Western Council of Construction Consumers, Distinguished Project Award; and American Society of Civil Engineers, Outstanding Public Civil Engineering Project, Transportation Over $10 Million.

“It’s an honor to receive these awards, and to be recognized in the engineering and construction industry for the Gold Line Bridge,” said Habib F. Balian, chief executive officer of the authority. “The bridge is being recognized for not only its artistic beauty, but also the challenges that were overcome to design and build the bridge over an active freeway and an earthquake fault.”

The Gold Line Bridge is the state’s first-ever artist-designed transit bridge and the largest single public art/transit infrastructure project in California. Public artist Andrew Leicester created the design for the $18.6 million project, then worked with Skanska USA and AECOM during final design and construction.