Constructed between 1915 and 1927, Dixie Highway was realigned as part of a Design-Build project led by WGI, spanning approximately 0.75 miles from south of Hillsboro Boulevard in Broward County to north of the Hillsboro Canal in Palm Beach County. The realignment included a 1,400-foot flyover bridge carrying a four-lane divided urban arterial over the Hillsboro Canal, NE 2nd Avenue, Florida East Coast Railway (FEC), North River Avenue, NE 1st Avenue, and NE 2nd Street. This design eliminated the at-grade FEC railway crossing, reducing travel times and conflict points while enhancing safety for local motorists and pedestrians traveling to downtown Deerfield Beach and Pioneer Park.

WGI served as the Lead Designer/Engineer of Record as part of the Cone and Graham (C&G)/WGI Team. The project also included a pedestrian pathway structure, an off-ramp structure from Dixie Highway to NE 2nd Avenue, new stormwater management facilities, decorative lighting, landscape enhancements, utility relocation, and new signalization equipment at Hillsboro Boulevard. Upgrades were made to two at-grade crossings of the FEC Railroad track, and WGI developed a hurricane evacuation plan, as Dixie Highway is a designated evacuation route.

Drainage improvements included routing runoff via storm sewers to stormwater management systems designed to meet criteria from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), and Palm Beach and Broward counties. The system was divided into eleven major drainage basins—nine in Broward County and two in Palm Beach County—covering a pre-development drainage area of 71 acres. WGI’s designs ensured compliance with all regulatory criteria.

During the proposal process, WGI leveraged its local utility equipment, including vacuum trucks, ground-penetrating radar, and line designators, to supplement utility investigations. The team performed additional potholes, located buried fiber duct banks within FEC right-of-way at flyover pile cap locations, and identified utilities at all known points of potential conflict.

Maintenance of traffic was a critical element of the project, as the area included FEC tracks, the Hillsboro Canal (a navigable waterway), businesses, homes, and multi-modal traffic. WGI’s traffic control plan ensured safety through active work zones, informed motorists of changing patterns, and minimized construction phases.

This award-winning project received multiple accolades, including the 2012 Class II Project of the Year Award from the Steel Erectors Association of America, the 2013 Grand Award and Grand Conceptor Award from the Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers (FICE), the 2013 FICE/FDOT Project of the Year Award, and the 2013 FTBA Best in Construction Award.