Wisconsin Builder | Top Projects of 2002

Minor miracles

We again this year had the pleasure — and challenge — of poring over project after project to select the select few for our annual Wisconsin Builder Top Projects issue.

About 75 projects were submitted for consideration this year and, even for those not chosen to appear in Wisconsin Builder, we believe it really is an honor just to be nominated. The projects were all outstanding, and we appreciate the time and effort it took to bring them to our attention.

Unfortunately, we had to choose just 20 for inclusion in Wisconsin Builder, and the decisions were not always easy or made without debate.

Some appeared easier than others, like the $50 million Bradley Tech and the $52 million Sixth Street Viaduct. Given their prominence and impact on Milwaukee — and potentially the state — the two high-profile projects were easy calls.

But projects were not chosen because of locale, cost or aesthetics alone. We reviewed projects large and small from all parts of the state, and we chose them, largely, because of the challenges they created and obstacles that had to be cleared to see them through completion.

Take, for instance, the $3 million McShane Underground Storage Facility in Muskego. Not maybe as glamorous as the nearly $28 million Columbia St. Mary's Hospital Ozaukee Campus expansion and renovation, but a winner nonetheless.

Why? Mainly because of the project's impact. The first of its kind in southeast Wisconsin, the 1.7 million-gallon, underground-storage facility, which holds overflow until it can be processed, has solved chronic flooding problems in the Muskego neighborhood near Bluhm Park.

But the project, like the other 19 featured in the following pages, also reflects the ingenuity of the construction industry and the sometimes remarkable lengths builders will go to get a project done — and done on time and on budget.

This issue of Wisconsin Builder is here to make sure those minor miracles don't go unnoticed. Congratulations!

| Editor's Note | Top Projects | Main |
| Special Sections Main | DailyReporter.com |