The American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin presented Ayres Associates with four awards in this year's Wonders of Wisconsin Engineering contest. The event celebrated the ACEC chapter’s 50th anniversary and the decades of excellent engineering solutions embodied in projects completed during past 50 years.

The event attracted 43 entries from throughout Wisconsin. Eight "Best of Category" and five "Best of Region" winners were presented to recognize contributions made to the health, safety, and economic well-being of Wisconsin residents as well as the projects’ use of innovative engineering techniques or applications.

Ayres Associates' winning projects were:

• Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge – winner in both the structural systems–bridges and Northwest Region categories.
• Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission control survey and mapping project – survey and mapping category winner.
• Floating hinged bulkhead – water resources category winner.
• Wisconsin Highway 29 – North Central Region winner (a shared award with Strand Associates Inc., CH2M Hill, and Earth Tech Inc., designers of other segments of the corridor).

James Bakken, PE, has been named vice president of engineering services in the Eau Claire office, effective January 1, 2008. He brings 34 years of experience to his new responsibilities, which will include client relations, project planning, and supervision of approximately 30 employees working in environmental, water resources, and general civil engineering.

Mr. Bakken has been employed at Ayres Associates since 1973. He has been manager of the Eau Claire water resources group within engineering services since 1990. As a project engineer and project manager, Mr. Bakken’s responsibilities have included planning, managing, designing, and inspecting a variety of water resources projects. His experience includes lake management planning, hydraulic and hydrologic analyses, dam inspection and rehabilitation, harbor and marina design, flood control projects, stormwater management, master planning, and erosion control design.

Mr. Bakken is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Dam Safety Officials, and the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). He is a past president of the Minneapolis-St. Paul post of SAME.

John Davis, PE, PTOE, has joined our Waukesha office as a senior traffic engineer, bringing 25 years of experience. He has recent private sector experience and spent more than 20 years serving the traffic divisions in large metropolitan areas. His project experience includes traffic control design and operations, geometric design, traffic impact studies, traffic control evaluations, traffic incident management, and freeway operations.

Davis has been a fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers since 1998 and a member of ITE since 1981. He has been on the ITE Traffic Engineering Council Executive Committee since 2005. Davis has served on the ITE Leadership Development Task Force, Traffic Signal Activation Committee, Traffic Signal Timing Advisory Committee, LED Specifications Committee, and LED Focus Group. He is vice president of ITE’s Midwestern District.

Davis earned master of science and bachelor of science degrees in civil engineering from Purdue University. He earned his professional traffic operations engineer certification in 1999 and holds professional engineer registrations in Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.