Hayward Baker Inc. is the recipient of the Keystone Award from the Associated General Contractors of America-St. Louis. The award was presented to Hayward Baker in the Specialty Contractor/Subcontractor Project $100,000 to $1 million category for the company’s tie-down anchor work on the Locks 27 Lower Sill project, located on the Mississippi River near Granite City, Ill. 

The Keystone Award is given to honor the achievements of St. Louis construction firms and their employees in building the facilities that support and enhance the quality of life in the St. Louis area. A Keystone Award recipient exhibits excellence in providing solutions to unique obstacles and challenges specific to their project. The judges selected winners based on the challenges faced, how the job excelled in safety, project communications, workforce and contractor diversity, the quality of the construction process, and the project’s schedule and budget.

The Locks 27 project included de-tensioning 44 existing rock anchors, and installing 46 new rock anchors in the lower crossover sills in the main and auxiliary lock. The anchors were drilled 42 feet into the limestone directly below the 5-foot-thick concrete sill floor, and had a design load of 190 kips each.

Access and the work platform were very limited. The sills from which the crew worked were approximately 80 feet below the top of the lock, and 6-feet-wide-by-8-feet-tall, and 110 feet long. Material and equipment were dropped via crane through a 5-foot-by-7-foot opening to a lower level 15 feet below the lock surface, then transported laterally through a 150-foot-long narrow hallway, reattached to the crane, and finally lowered down the remaining 65 feet through a 2-foot-by-3-foot access shaft. The drill was disassembled and reassembled into four pieces four different times.

Commenting on the award, project manager Jeffrey Hill says, “Being a Keystone Award recipient is one of the highest local honors, because the Keystone Award is selected through a panel of our peers in the St. Louis construction industry. Keystone Awards recognize the project team for safely completing challenging and difficult construction projects.”