The U.S. Highway 17 bypass project at Washington can add another award to its collection.

The bypass, which opened last spring, is one of 2010’s best construction projects, so says the Associated General Contractors of America.

The project was a joint venture by Flatiron Constructors and United Infrastructure Group. That partnership was known as Flatiron/United. That partnership was among 20 firms that received an AGCA Build America award for the bypass project. Build America awards recognize the nation’s most-significant construction projects.

Construction of the $192 million bypass, which reroutes traffic on U.S. 17 around Washington, began in March 2007. The bypass stretches 6.8 miles from Price Road near Chocowinity to Springs Road in Washington. It was the first highway in Beaufort County built using the “design-build” method.

The “top-down” method of building the 2.9-mile-long bypass bridge received international attention and is a key reason the project has garnered several prestigious awards, including some from the construction industry.

Flatiron/United and the N.C. Department of Transportation knew the innovative “top-down” method used to build the bridge would attract attention, said  Christie DeLuca, spokeswoman for Flatiron, on Friday.

“I think they didn’t know that extent of the recognition this project was gong to get,” DeLuca said. “I think there were a lot of unknowns going in, but they were successfully able to implement it.”

DeLuca said Flatiron appreciates the recognition the project continues to receive and is particularly proud of helping develop a “safer, greener, faster way to build” bridges that cross sensitive environmental areas.

“The various awards this project has received from a broad spectrum of organizations demonstrates the true ingenuity used to design and build the Washington Bypass,” said State Highway Administrator Terry Gibson in a statement e-mailed to the Washington Daily News on Friday afternoon. “These techniques saved time and taxpayer money while also protecting the surrounding environment, and have received well-deserved recognition for their innovation.”

In November 2010, the project won the American Council of Engineering Companies of North Carolina Grand Conceptor Award, the highest honor given by the organization for projects that “epitomize quality, innovation, value and client satisfaction,” according to a news release.

The “top-down” method earned Flatiron/United the Innovative Transportation Solutions Award, which is presented by the Women’s Transportation Seminar. Flatiron/United received the award during WTS’s 12th-annual awards banquet and transportation reception March 31, 2010, in Raleigh.

“WTS recognized Flatiron for its use of the world’s first application of the pile-driving operations from an erection gantry, which not only saved time and cost, but also eliminated the need for large cranes and temporary access trestles, significantly reducing environmental disturbances to the fragile wetlands below,” reads a WTS press release.

The project received the 2010 Carolinas Associated General Contractors Pinnacle Award, labeled the most prestigious recognition in the states’ construction industry.

The project won a NOVA Award for its “top-down” method. The award is handed out by the Construction Innovation Forum, an international group that recognizes construction innovation.

The Federal Highway Administration honored the project with an Environmental Excellence Award in ecosystems, habitat and wildlife for the innovative pile-driving method.

“The project was the world’s first application of the pile-driving operations from an erection gantry. It not only saved time and cost, it also eliminated the need for large cranes and temporary access trestles, significantly reducing environmental disturbances to the fragile wetlands below,” reads a FHA document.