Each year, the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) honours outstanding technical achievements by its member organizations by offering nine awards:
- Active Transportation Achievement Award
- Climate Action Achievement Award
- Environmental Achievement Award
- Infrastructure Achievement Award
- Mobility Achievement Award
- Road Safety Achievement Award
- Small Municipalities Achievement Award
- Technology Achievement Award
- Workforce Development Achievement Award
We congratulate this year’s recipients and thank the dozens of organizations that applied. We also recognize the many volunteers who reviewed award applications.
Each award-winning project will be featured in a webinar this May or June.
The 2026 Award Recipients are:
The Cycle 16 Multi-Use Pathway is a major active transportation project in northern British Columbia, creating a 15-kilometre-long, 3-metre-wide paved pathway along the Highway 16 corridor linking the Town of Smithers and the Village of Telkwa. Designed to move pedestrians and cyclists off the shoulder of a busy highway, the separated route significantly improves safety while strengthening regional connectivity. Since the opening of the , over 15,000 trips have been recorded, demonstrating strong demand for safer walking and cycling infrastructure. Beyond safety, Cycle 16 supports tourism, connects rural workers to employment centres, and encourages a shift from vehicle travel, reducing emissions. The project is also notable for its innovative governance model. Initiated by the non-profit Cycle 16 Trail Society, it evolved into a partnership among local governments, WSP Canada, and the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Transit, which now owns and maintains the corridor. This collaborative framework provides a transferable model for rural active transportation projects across Canada.
The Seabird Bluff Slide Recovery Project was a comprehensive response to the extreme atmospheric river event which caused widespread flooding, landslides, and mudslides across British Columbia in November 2021. Highway 7, a key corridor connecting the Lower Mainland to the rest of Canada, was blocked by 82,000 m³ of debris, isolating communities and disrupting the movement of goods and services. Immediate, short-term works restored traffic and reduced risks, including removing debris, clearing ditches, and building temporary berms. Long-term mitigation planning began in 2022. A climate-resilient debris-flow mitigation system was designed, with a 4-10 m high diversion berm and riprap armouring, and a secondary berm to contain future events. Natural environments were restored by planting more than 5,000 native plants, adding woody debris, and improving fish habitats. Consultations with the First Nations’ Seabird Island Band guided cultural and archaeological protections and access. Long-term resilience and safety were prioritized by improving equipment access routes and signage.
The Highway Creek Acid Rock Drainage Treatment project shows environmental stewardship innovation by addressing problems resulting from the construction of Highway 97C. In the late 1980s, acid-generating rock was unknowingly used as fill for the highway, causing long-term acid drainage that harmed Highway Creek and threatened the Pennask Lake watershed, a vital trout breeding ground. In 2017, the BC Ministry of Transportation and Transit began implementing a two-phase solution by capping the highway and lowering groundwater levels to reduce acid production. A modular passive water treatment system with neutralization chambers, biochemical reactors, polishing cells, and limestone beds was built, accompanied by an engineered wetland for additional water filtration. Designed for this remote, power-limited site, the system operates with minimal maintenance and remote telemetry monitoring. The project restored aquatic conditions in Highway Creek; fish have returned after years of absence, and full regulatory compliance has been met since 2025. With low operating costs, strong First Nations partnerships, and an approach that can be replicated elsewhere, the project sets a new standard for environmental remediation of transportation infrastructure.
The Infrastructure Achievement Award goes to the City of Toronto, in partnership with Grascan Construction Ltd, Torbridge Construction Ltd, Stantec, Doug Dixon and Associates, the Province of Ontario and Parsons, for its F.G. Gardiner Expressway: Section 2 Rehabilitation Project.
The F.G. Gardiner Expressway Section 2 Rehabilitation Project showcases excellence in delivering modern infrastructure, while renewing a critical segment of one of Canada’s busiest transportation corridors. The 700-metre elevated structure between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue carries more than 150,000 vehicles daily. Its superstructure needed replacing, and its substructure needed rehabilitating across 35 spans — all while keeping four lanes of live traffic moving above the complex GO Transit, streetcar, and LRT operations and construction activity below. As the City of Toronto’s first transportation project delivered using a Design-Build model, it achieved faster delivery, collaborative designs, and innovative construction solutions. The project team used precast prestressed concrete box girders to streamline fabrication and nighttime installation, erecting up to seven girders per night within tight urban constraints. Through careful staging, premium durability materials, and concurrent construction activities, the project achieved a design life of 75 years and reopened to six lanes in October 2025, 18 months ahead of schedule. This achievement sets a new benchmark for complex urban expressway rehabilitation.
The BC E‑Bike Rebate Program began in 2023 to make active transportation more affordable and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It offered income-based rebates on new e‑bike purchases, tallying 7,040 rebates valued at $10 million between June 2023 and September 2025. Demand for the program quickly exceeded the available budget. An evaluation with the University of British Columbia’s REACT Lab found strong mobility and environmental benefits. Average weekly e-bike use increased by 40 km while automobile travel declined by 17 km — a 20% reduction in car travel and a sixteen-fold increase in e-bike travel. Weekly transportation emissions dropped by 17%, and over five years, the program is projected to eliminate about 5,000 tonnes of CO₂ and 15 million km of automobile travel. Participants also reported more physical activity, improved mental well-being, and a 12% drop in travel costs. The program’s income-based design helped lower-income residents and seniors, improving transportation equity. Its evidence-based approach, partnerships with municipalities and strong results offer a model for other regions seeking affordable, low‑carbon mobility solutions.
The Region of Durham, with CIMA+ as lead consultant, launched the 2019–2024 Strategic Road Safety Action Plan. This comprehensive initiative, grounded in the Vision Zero framework, aims to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on regional roads. Built on analyzing advanced collision data, stakeholder engagement, and a multidisciplinary approach, the Plan established an evidence-based roadmap to improve road safety. The Plan aimed to reduce fatal and injury collisions by 10% over five years and focused on eight priority areas: intersections, aggressive and distracted driving, young drivers, pedestrians, impaired driving, commercial vehicles, and cyclists. It implemented coordinated countermeasures across engineering, enforcement, education, and engagement, with defined budgets, timelines, and staffing to ensure practical and sustainable delivery. The Vision Zero Task Force and Road Safety Implementation Committee improved coordination and accountability between different agencies, and a detailed Vision Zero Report Card evaluated outcomes and progress. In the end, fatal and injury collisions declined by 16%, exceeding their target while creating a data-driven model for other cities wanting to improve road safety by applying Vision Zero strategies.
The City of Lethbridge used practical, data‑driven traffic calming methods that show clear safety improvements designed for small municipalities. Over two years, average operating speeds on pilot residential corridors dropped from 46.15 km/h to 44.69 km/h, with seven of ten segments slowing down. Upper‑tail speeding was tracked using the 85th-percentile speed (V85) to identify the highest‑risk locations. Rotational Speed Feedback Signs achieved about 85% driver compliance, and 13 of 17 sites recorded V85 speeds below the posted limit, showing strong alignment between posted speeds and driver behaviour. Locations showing persistent speeding were tagged for enforcement or quick-build traffic calming solutions. Early safety results reveal that total collisions fell by 16%, and injury collisions decreased 45%. Walking and cycling became more comfortable and safety around schools improve. Lethbridge’s integrated model — consistent speed rules, behaviour‑focused tools, quick‑build curb extensions, and built‑in monitoring — supports a plan‑pilot‑measure‑adjust cycle that directs limited funding to places with proven safety gains.
This innovative pilot project used high-resolution LiDAR technology to detect and address frost heaving — a persistent challenge affecting northern road networks. Traditional surveying methods in the region are constrained by short seasonal windows and the time-intensity of fieldwork. By adopting mobile 3D LiDAR surveys, the Ville de Québec can efficiently capture detailed roadway data across entire corridors and accurately compare winter and summer elevations to identify frost-related deformations. Equipped with dual scanners and advanced navigation sensors, the terrestrial mobile LiDAR system generates accurate and dense point-cloud data. This allows engineers to precisely locate drainage issues and structural weaknesses, enabling targeted interventions that improve safety for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. Beyond better mobility, the approach reduces design costs, optimizes material use, and minimizes construction impacts by avoiding unnecessary full road reconstructions. A single data collection visit provides information that can be used by multiple municipal departments and supports long-term initiatives such as developing a citywide digital twin. The project shows how advanced geomatics can enhance infrastructure maintenance, environmental efficiency, and evidence-based decision-making for municipalities.