Award of Merit - Office

Hudson Valley Transportation Management Center

Constructing the 92,000-sq.-ft. Hudson Valley Transportation Management Center involved three primary challenges - a congested site, the need to incorporate state-of-the-art technology, and a desire to blend the facility into its environs.

The regional control command center for traffic and incident management, one the few facilities of its kind in the United States, cost $50 million to build. The facility in Hawthorne, N.Y., coordinates rapid incident detection, identification, response, and clearance in seven lower Hudson Valley counties - Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, Columbia, and Ulster - by integrating Intelligent Transportation System infrastructure used in each county. The center collects and disseminates real-time traffic information.

The team built the structure against a large hillside that dominates the site, which is about 1,000 ft. away from existing gas, water, power, and communication lines. The site also borders a largely residential area, making it important for the facility to blend in with the community.

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The project team had to manage logistics of excavation in the tight site. It exported more than 100,000 cu. yds. of earth to make room for the building's footprint. To create an effective support system for the facility, it also constructed two large-scale soil-nail retaining walls. To prepare for construction, it securely buttressed soil from the hill behind the building with a permanent wall. It also shored the soil below the permanent wall with a temporary wall to allow for construction of the building's deep foundation.

Site constrictions required the project team to construct the retaining wall from the top down. The soil-nail system eased this approach thanks to suitable soil conditions on site. In all, the team constructed approximately 23,000 sq. ft. of wall.

Connecting the facility to utilities was another challenge, because of the distance to existing links and site congestion issues. The work included an upgrade of the entire 1,000 ft. of roadway from Bradhurst Avenue - Hawthorne's main street, which housed the existing utility lines - to Chateau Lane, the center's location.

Other project highlights included installing a video wall in the operations room featuring up-to-date technology. Purchasing equipment near the end of construction assured incorporation of the latest technology and also saved money as equipment prices stabilized. The project team made design adjustments at the last minute to accommodate for the changing specifications.

Blending the facility into the surrounding residential community called for creativity and special materials, including slate-like roofing accenting the center part of the building as well as cooper roofing. Both materials echoed the slate and copper roofs of nearby residential buildings. Additional enhancements included sloped roofs, a brick façade, and soft green accents matching the copper patina.

The design also mapped out security features that aren't visually jarring. Landscaped walls, onsite borders, and trees all funnel vehicles into the facility only through the front gate.