AECOM provided engineering and post-design services for the award-winning Big I project—the reconstruction of Interstate 25 and Interstate 40, which intersect in the Big I System Interchange in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was considered one of the top transportation infrastructure projects in the state in the 20th century.
The project involved a record-setting, 23-month, $293 million reconstruction. The original Big I interchange was built in 1966. By 1998, it was carrying 300,000 vehicles per day, ranked as one of the worst bottlenecks in the U.S., and in critical need of increased capacity and operational efficiencies to meet current design guidelines. The reconstruction called for widening the two interstate corridors in each direction through the interchange, replacing ramps, reconstructing adjacent interchanges and adding new frontage roads, and the design of 55 multi-level bridge structures (45 new and 10 reconstructed or rehabilitated). This project won the Grand Conceptor Award for Engineering Excellence from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New Mexico.