Oates Associates received an Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies – Illinois for the IL-255 / Gateway Commerce Drive Interchange in Madison County, Illinois

The Gateway Commerce Center – a 2,300-acre warehousing development featuring some of the country's largest distribution centers, was initially served only by one interchange with I-270 that was inadequate to handle the volume of large truck traffic the Center generates. Oates Associates designed a new “full-diamond” interchange with IL-255 utilizing an existing bridge carrying IL-255 over a stream and farm road. The project moved from funding approval, through design to letting in 14 months – a much shorter time frame than normally required for new interchanges.

Use of an existing bridge on IL-255 not only saved considerable cost for the developer and the State, but it also allowed the interchange to be built with only minor disruption of traffic on IL-255.