The new Providence River Bridge makes its way up the Bay in August 2006.

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The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

PROVIDENCE — The state Department of Transportation’s dramatic delivery of the new Providence River Bridge by barge in August 2006 after a dozen-mile trip up the Bay has won the agency an award for innovation from a group representing transportation officials.

The arch bridge is now the most prominent part of the agency’s biggest project, the relocation of a section of Route 195 and its interchange with Route 95.

The award for innovative management, from the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials, also puts the DOT in the running for a national award from the organization’s parent, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. That organization represents transportation officials in all 50 states and is a source for construction standards and other technical services.

The region the DOT won in includes the six New England states, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

“The department is extremely proud of the Iway project and this recognition,” DOT Director Michael Lewis said. He said that building the bridge elsewhere and floating it to Providence “was the safest, most efficient means of constructing it. It was a great feat of engineering.” Lewis became head of the department in March after managing a much bigger bit of engineering: Boston’s Big Dig.

The conventional way to build a bridge is to assemble it in place, piece by piece. That is how the rest of the new bridge, much less complicated than the arch section, was built.

But building a bridge in place is unappealing because most of the work has to be done from barges. The Providence River Bridge’s design, meanwhile, yielded a single unit that could be picked up and moved intact. Cardi Corp., the general contractor, chose to build at Pier 2 at Quonset Point/Davisville — a large, flat, stable area that would support the bridge during assembly and let Cardi maneuver its cranes and other equipment around it.

The mover, Dutch-based Mammoet Corp., specializes in moving extremely large and heavy objects such as offshore oil-drilling rigs. It jacked the bridge up 30 feet, so it would fit over the bridge’s concrete piers when it arrived, and used self-propelled transporters to move it onto two 300-foot barges. Spectators watched from both sides of the Bay during an uneventful trip to Providence on the morning of Aug. 27.

Designed by William D. Warner architects and engineered by Maguire Associates, the bridge is unusual in the United States. Called a network arch, its deck is supported by cables hung diagonally from the steel arches. According to the DOT, it’s also unique in having three arches rather than two.

The competition has three categories: “On Time,” “On Budget” and “Innovative Management.” The latter, where the DOT was successful, “recognizes new policies or procedures and creative transportation solutions that enhance the effective movement of people, goods and services; increase transportation efficiency and choices; improve safety, accessibility and aid traffic management; and enhance community life.”

If the DOT wins nationally, it could also be good news for the University of Rhode Island. A “substantial” monetary award goes to the winning state Department of Transportation to donate to a university to assist a student pursuing a graduate degree in transportation, and the DOT maintains close ties with URI’s civil engineers.

blandis@projo.com