Public Servants Make Tracks to the Coveted Tranny Awards

Joan English is pulling her formal black dress out of the closet and preparing a speech in which she will thank all the little people who made this possible. She is also clearing a space on her wall for the coveted award she plans to bring home tonight.

A Grammy? An Emmy?

Try a Tranny.

Maybe you’ve never heard of it, but among transportation officials, it is one of the most coveted awards in California.

English, transportation and public works director for West Hollywood, will be among about a dozen public officials from throughout the state taking home a Tranny at a banquet tonight in Sacramento.

West Hollywood will be honored for the $35-million renovation of Santa Monica Boulevard, a project that transformed a plain state route into a three-mile landscaped roadway with bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways.

Among other Tranny winners are the city of Los Angeles, which completed earthquake retrofitting of the 1925-era Olympic Boulevard Bridge while maintaining the 1,400-foot structure’s historic flavor.

Pomona will take home a Tranny for converting an old train depot into a regional transit center serving buses and commuter trains.

True, the Trannys don’t attract paparazzi or TV news crews who ask what designer the winners are wearing.

But the award, given for the last 13 years by the nonprofit California Transportation Foundation, is as coveted by transportation officials as an Oscar is by an actor.

“Given who is giving these awards, they are big,” English said. “Obviously, we are thrilled.”

The winners, who take home a plaque, are chosen by a panel of transportation experts from public agencies and private firms. The foundation launched the awards in 1989 to promote excellence in transportation.

To upgrade Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood removed more than 15,000 feet of railroad tracks beneath the pavement. The city added more than six miles of new sidewalks and planted 1,200 trees. The roadway was repaved using 15,000 tons of rubberized asphalt.

Pomona spent $24 million to renovate and improve a 1940s-era train depot, adding platforms for Metrolink passengers and a pedestrian bridge over the tracks. .

Los Angeles spent $9.5 million to retrofit the Olympic Boulevard Bridge, one of 13 historic bridges that span the Los Angeles River.

To preserve the bridge’s historic architecture, old photographs were studied and the 1920s-era stylized railing and street lamps were remanufactured.

Clark Robins, a deputy city engineer, said the bridge work was honored in 2000 by the state Department of Transportation. But he suspects winning a Tranny is an even bigger accomplishment.

“We’ve never had a Tranny before, so it must be big,” Robins said.