The New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers gave the award for best construction project to Madison engineer Bob Vogel for his work on the Madison Recreation Center at the society's annual awards luncheon last week.

The award was presented at a ceremony held at the Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick. Municipal engineers from around the state submitted projects for consideration in various categories, and a panel of judges that includes engineers and college professors evaluated the submissions.

Former Madison Mayor Mary-Anna Holden, deputy zoning officer Dan Buckelew, the design draftsman for the project, and Dennis Harrington, a local construction inspector Madison contracts with and who oversaw construction of the MRC, also attended the ceremony.

Vogel said he dedicates the award to outgoing Councilman Don Links, the liaison to the engineering department during the project.

"I personally saw Don once a week for a year," Vogel said. "I could not have asked for a more involved and dependable person to deal with on a very large project. ... Don led the planning, and the design and the construction. He did it with consistency and resolve. He had extraordinary involvement in the project from beginning to end. That was absolutely part of its success."

Vogel said the $3.5 million construction project is the largest Madison designed in-house. It was done that way so the project could be completed quickly and less expensively. Design work took three months and construction took nine months. A ribbon-cutting for the Madison Recreation Center was held in April.