BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) – The state has won an award for the way it rebuilt Route 9, a project that underwent big changes at the urging of an environmental group that Gov. James Douglas has often labeled a “special-interest” organization.

The $21 million project received the 2004 Public Space Honor Award, in part, because of its “integrated approach” to environmental stewardship, according to Secretary Dawn Terrill.

The AOT was forced to alter its plans after the Conservation Law Foundation fought to prevent rechanneling the Deerfield River.

“It was a controversial project in the planning stages,” Jane Brown, an AOT landscape architect, said Thursday.

“I think once (the agency) embraced that change and left the river intact, we got to work. It turned out, ironically, to be a great project.”

When rebuilding the 3.7-mile stretch of highway between Searsburg and Wilmington, the state erected four new bridges, widened the road to 40 feet in places, and ironed out many of its twists and turns.

“I’m glad the changes they made are recognized as making a positive contribution to the community,” Sandra Levine, a CLF attorney, said Thursday. “We said you don’t need to bulldoze and move the river. We said there was a way to improve Route 9 and protect the environment.”

Founded in 2002, the Public Space Honor Award recognizes exterior or interior public spaces in Vermont which have been “defined or enriched by design or planning to promote positive public use,” according to the AOT.

Professional associations representing Vermont landscape architects, planners, civil engineers and architects sponsor the award.

Brown said the highway project was notable for its attention to detail. The agency managed to preserve not only an archeological site, but rare orchids along the edge of the river.

“It worked out in a Vermont sort of way, with small scale and common sense solutions, I think,” Brown said.

CLF has been among the groups urging alternatives to the proposed Chittenden County Circumferential Highway around Burlington. As recently as this week, Douglas said that project had been held up because of intervention by “a special-interest group.”