NEW YORK, NY — The new Moynihan Train Hall in New York City recently received the Grand Conceptor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), representing the year’s most outstanding engineering effort.

Designed by Severud Associates of New York City, the project was named the best of 195 entries from the U.S. and the world at the annual black-tie Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA), held in Washington, D.C., and moderated by comedian and TV host Ross Shafer.

Almost 30 years after conception, the new Moynihan Train Hall now provides visitors with a sunlit arrival to New York City. The 255,000-square-foot hall expands Penn Station across Eighth Avenue into the landmarked James A. Farley Building, the city’s former main city Post Office. Highlights include a 30,000-square-foot main boarding concourse, formerly the mail sorting room, and a 92-foot-high arched skylight roof creatively supported by original but previously hidden giant 150-foot-long steel trusses.

Other project enhancements include multiple new station entrances, an expanded West End Concourse, and the intermodal Midblock Hall. The project creates an above ground, sun-filled entrance to New York while significantly improving access, interconnectivity, and the overall traveler experience.

ACEC President and CEO Linda Bauer Darr said the Moynihan project represents engineering problem-solving at its finest. “Sometimes, it is unnecessary to tear it all down to create something new,” Darr said. “The Moynihan Train Hall project by Severud Associates breathed new life into a piece of New York City’s rich architectural history and designed a new gateway into the city that will awe and inspire well into the future.”