Frontier Family Park is a marvel of scale and thoughtful design, making it a standout project in both its magnitude and intricate attention to detail. Spanning 90 acres, the park accommodates thousands of visitors, offering an unparalleled range of amenities that cater to people of all ages and abilities. The park features a balanced mix of amenities, including three lighted multi-purpose fields for a variety of sports, six lighted diamond fields for baseball and softball, and 24 lighted pickleball courts— marking the town’s first foray into public facilities for this rapidly growing sport. The addition of sand volleyball and basketball courts rounds out the sports offerings. Recreational and leisure activities are equally prioritized, with highlights such as a five-acre fishing lake, an innovative, iconic destination inclusive playground with a splash pad, and unique concrete gaming tables for ping pong and cornhole. The lighted walking paths encircling the park provides over a mile and a half of scenic exercise opportunities. Additionally, the park includes ample amenities such as group and picnic ramadas, concession areas, restrooms, and maintenance facilities to ensure convenience and accessibility. The entire project team collaborated to deliver a one-of-a-kind project that demonstrates engineering excellence, prioritizes sustainable practices, and incorporates play, relaxation, and recreation opportunities for people of all ages and abilities. The culmination of these things resulted in a facility that is heavily used and loved by the community and is a destination with a true sense of place for not only Queen Creek residents, but all those living in and visiting the Valley.

Delivering one of Phoenix’s most complex infrastructure projects, the South Central Extension Light Rail overcame extraordinary challenges with innovation and resilience, while creating lasting opportunity and equity for South Phoenix communities. AECOM and its team members worked with the SCE LRT project owners, stakeholders, and community to deliver a transportation system that connects South Phoenix with the region and provides a multimodal corridor and new Downtown Hub. The project incorporates numerous innovative solutions such as Arizona’s first in-pavement pedestrian warning system and the Valley’s first pedestrian and transit mall while respecting the social, cultural, and natural environment. Workforce development and high school STEM programs provide lasting value, inspiring future engineers and creating opportunities for the community.

The Detroit Basin Stormwater and Neighborhood Improvements project transformed

an urgent infrastructure need into a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization. Originally

planned as a drainage upgrade, the project expanded to include a new waterline,

sewer rehabilitation, and major park and streetscape improvements that reshaped this

undeserved community.

Time was critical. The original drainage study required railroad and SRP irrigation permits

that would have delayed construction by more than a year. Entellus updated the design to

avoid these conflicts, saving time and money. At the same time, nationwide pipe shortages

threatened progress. The CMAR, Achen-Gardner, used ADS HP Storm pipe, which was

lighter, faster to install, and immediately available. This allowed more than 7,000 feet of

storm drain to be completed quickly while saving over $250,000.

The project’s impact extends well beyond the underground improvements. Gazelle

Meadows Park, once outdated and unsafe, was rebuilt with lighting, shaded play areas,

and family-friendly amenities. Today, the park serves as a safe, vibrant gathering place

and a source of pride for the neighborhood. This project stands out for its innovative

engineering, problem-solving under pressure, and lasting social benefit.

The City of Phoenix’s PVC-Lined Concrete Sewer Pipe and Manhole Rehabilitation is an ambitious, multi-phase renewal program delivered to address aging, high-capacity sanitary sewer mains and hundreds of deep manhole structures beneath Phoenix’s busiest corridors. Under the leadership of Dibble as prime design consultant, the project overcame challenges posed by deteriorating pipe liners, structurally compromised manholes, and complex traffic conditions, using innovative engineering and scheduling to maintain public health, safety, and economic growth. Dibble served as the prime engineer, leading everything from condition assessment prioritization, specifications, plans/design, scheduling, construction administration, and inspection. Dibble’s depth of expertise in trenchless technologies Cured-In-Place Pipe (CIPP) lining, PVC spot repairs, FRP (fiber-reinforced polymers) allowed for minimally invasive repairs while maximizing service reliability, all tailored to the needs of the City and executing agencies. The firm’s responsibilities included technical development, stakeholder/agency coordination, traffic management planning, and direct collaboration with contractors on phasing and constructability, helping the City realize their goal of resilient, long-life infrastructure with minimal public disturbance.

The new $3.7 million West Silverbell Road Blanco Wash Bridge is a two-lane concrete structure that eliminates the historic challenges and accidents with the single lane Bailey Bridge. Nearly double the length of the previous structure, the new one offers a larger hydraulic opening. Replacing both a three-barrel 84-inch and a two-barrel 60-inch reinforced concrete pipe culverts improve hydraulic throughput within the project limits and replaces worn, corroded structures. Both culvert’s feature new headwalls, wingwalls and inlet and outlet aprons that improve their ability to weather the incredible floodwaters that permeate the washes. The two-lane bridge improves safety, eliminating the need to stop or slow for oncoming traffic at the bridge; accommodates emergency vehicles; reduces crash severity; is designed to remain stable during 100-year and 500-year flood events; and removes the 3-ton weight limit of the previous structure.

With the entire project located in a floodplain and the bridge and undersized culverts only capable of conveying runoff from small storms, the team designed the bridge approach roadway to allow runoff to overtop the roadway during large storm events. An innovative bank protection scheme consisting of cutoff walls along the roadway embankment directs flow to the bridge where they tie into 21-foot-deep scour walls that protect the bridge from scour during floods. This innovative concrete scour wall was constructed in just two weeks. To streamline the project, the design team repurposed the original design, reworking it to comply with current design standards, structural ratings, and using the latest design practices. They helped save costs, reduced impacts to critical species and visual impacts, and improved hydraulic capacity. The unique project offers a new perspective into designing for desert and flood conditions across the desert southwest.

Starting in spring 2024, the Broadway Curve Constructors teamed up with ADOT to launch a robust public education campaign, helping drivers learn how to navigate the new CD roads. The westbound CD road opened for travel in August 2024, followed by the eastbound CD road in November 2024—ushering in a new era of smoother, safer journeys.

As part of the project, the Broadway Curve Constructors also introduced Arizona’s very first dual HOV lanes in both directions between US 60 and the Salt River bridge—a groundbreaking feature designed to keep traffic moving efficiently today and well into the future as the region continues to thrive.

Future value to the engineering profession and enhanced public awareness/enthusiasm of the role of engineering

With approximately 300,000 vehicles driving through the project area daily, it was a highly visible project that provided many opportunities to increase public awareness/enthusiasm about the role of engineering in the public’s everyday lives. For instance, the Broadway Curve Constructors outreach team attended 86 community events. This included community fairs/festivals, pop-up events at libraries and community centers, and presentations to business groups and homeowners’ associations. The outreach team also hosted seven tours for Arizona State University and local high school students and produced more than 100 traffic alerts and 44 monthly newsletters that went to an email list that grew from less than 17,000 subscribers in 2022 to more than 39,000 subscribers in 2025.

Education efforts, especially around using the new CD roads, empowered drivers with knowledge and boosted appreciation for the role of engineering in everyday life. This was also the first ADOT project with a project-specific mobile app—downloaded 31,000 times—and a dedicated website with nearly 275,000 visits, so this project did not just enhance awareness about civil and traffic engineering, but it also enhanced awareness about software engineering.

The primary goal of a rehabilitation project is typically to identify and prioritize the rehabilitation and replacement of key assets. What was unique about this rehabilitation project, is that the team came in with this rehabilitation goal in mind, but ultimately went above and beyond in delivering a project that did more than just rehabilitate key equipment, but also allowed the plant to reliably achieve its rated capacity of 140 mgd for the first time. In addition to addressing the current rehabilitation cycle, this project included projecting work items for the next three project cycles. Forecasted replacement years for assets were estimated using algorithms based on asset type, with the logic that not all asset types deteriorate at the same rate. Work items were then grouped together into defensible projects based on factors such as risk, frequency of use, future regulations, and/or constructability packaging. This proactive approach allows the City to prepare accurate strategic fiscal plans and ensure the long-term success of the facility in meeting water demands.

As a result of the strategic asset replacements and improvements, the 24th Street WTP is now capable of sustaining a 140 mgd production capacity. The successful delivery of this project, both on schedule and within budget, was a direct result of the team’s strong commitment to innovation, safety, stewardship, and collaboration.

The Pima Road project in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a major infrastructure upgrade that has greatly improved safety, mobility, and quality of life for residents and commuters. Originally planned to widen Pima Road from two to three lanes between Pinnacle Peak Road and Happy Valley Road, the project’s scope expanded to include new driveways with large box culverts, a 75,000-square-foot sound wall to reduce traffic noise, and advanced drainage features to manage stormwater and protect nearby neighborhoods.

A key challenge was coordinating and relocating over 75,000 linear feet of utilities—including water, sewer, gas, and power lines—across eight different utility companies. The project team, led by Kimley-Horn, used a joint trench design to install multiple utilities at once, minimizing excavation and service disruptions. When a major sewer line conflicted with a proposed box culvert, the team adjusted the culvert’s design and roadway elevation to preserve the sewer in place, avoiding costly relocations.

Throughout construction, the team prioritized minimizing traffic disruptions by maintaining two lanes in each direction, using phased construction, and implementing detailed traffic control plans. Sustainability was also a focus, with water harvesting and native desert landscaping incorporated to blend the roadway with its surroundings and promote environmental stewardship.

Funding came from local and regional sources, including the Maricopa Association of Governments and the Maricopa County Flood Control District.

The Pima Road project stands as a model of technical innovation, adaptive management, and community-focused design, delivering a safer and more resilient transportation corridor for Scottsdale.

Prescott Regional Airport (PRC), also known as Ernest A. Love Field, is ranked among the nation’s busiest airports for total aircraft operations, with 310,870 operations, making it the 18th busiest by operations in the U.S. United Airlines provides daily commercial service with direct connections to Denver and Los Angeles, supporting both commercial and general aviation traffic as well as private and corporate flights. The latest reports from PRC show that the airport generated more than $160.3 million in economic impact in 2020, supporting 1,366 jobs and facilitating over 53,000 commercial passengers annually. Dibble provided detailed design, bid support, construction administration, and inspection services for this multi-million dollar, multi-phase FAA funded airfield safety project at Prescott Regional Airport (PRC). The project relocated the airport’s primary parallel Taxiway C to meet new FAA separation standards and incorporated major improvements to nearly every connector taxiway linking to Runway 3R-21L.

In a rapidly expanding Phoenix metropolitan area,

Buckeye is a city on the rise. Consistently ranked

as one of the fastest growing cities across the

United States over the past decade, Buckeye has

experienced a massive population surge since

2000.

Buckeye’s growth is only expected to accelerate,

with predictions that it could be home to over one

million Arizonans once its nearly 640 square

miles of sweeping desert landscape is fully built

out. Commercial and industrial entities have likewise

flocked to the area, attracted by its ideal

geographic location in Phoenix’s West Valley.

Ensuring a healthy, reliable, and resilient water

supply is essential for social and economic growth

to continue in Buckeye. But this is a complex challenge—

one that requires forward-looking engineering

solutions to overcome—given the

water-stressed state of the region, limited quantity

of water supplies, and varying quality of available

water.

With further residential, commercial, and industrial

developments planned in the 5,000-acre

Farallon Water Service Area, the City of Buckeye

needed to move forward with creating the Farallon

Water Campus to successfully meet the timely

water needs of its customers and find sustainable

solutions to prepare for the water demands of

future expansion.

Hazen and Sawyer (Hazen) began work as the

primary engineering consultant for Phase One of

the project in July 2021, partnering with hydrogeology

consultant Matrix New World Engineering

(Matrix) and later with MGC Contractors Inc.

(MGC) as Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR)

in December 2022.

Through immense collaboration and creative

problem-solving, the team navigated multiple

layers of complexity across the project timeline,

continuously identifying solutions to meet the

City’s constrained time and budgetary requirements

and adapting to shifting project needs—all

without sacrificing water quality.

The Cholla Steel Tanks Replacement Project is a vital infrastructure upgrade aimed at supporting new development at the base of one of Phoenix’s most notable landmarks, Camelback Mountain. This complex project was key to ensuring adequate fire flow and water storage capacity for the historic Cholla Heights community and nearby areas. With new development close to the historic Phoenician Golf Course, the City of Phoenix (City) recognized the need to upgrade the existing system, as the two aging 100,000-gallon tanks could no longer meet the growing demand.

Wilson Engineers (Wilson) collaborated with the City to create a master plan for the area, determining that improving both the Cholla Tanks and Cholla Booster Pump Station was the most effective way to enhance the system. The project replaced the two 100,000-gallon tanks with two new 200,000-gallon tanks, doubling storage capacity while managing tight site constraints and ensuring uninterrupted water service during construction. Innovative techniques, such as soil nails, were used to stabilize an existing site wall, allowing for facility expansion without affecting surrounding drainage or nearby homeowners.

The project’s complexity increased due to the constrained site, limited staging areas, and proximity to an active Home Owners Association (HOA) community, with a homeowner just 15 feet from the site. Careful planning and phased construction minimized disruptions, ensuring continuous water service and reducing impact on neighbors. Through close collaboration with the City, Felix Construction (Felix), and the community, the Cholla Steel Tanks team successfully delivered a solution that improves long-term water reliability, supports ongoing development, and maintains strong community engagement.