2026 - A Year of Recognition: Celebrating Community, Collaboration, and Impact in Tacoma
A Winning Year for McInnis Engineering
Some years you keep your head down and do the work. Every so often, the community you work for turns around and says thank you.
2026 has been one of those years for McInnis Engineering. This spring we took home the top prize in Tacoma Rising's March Business Madness competition Builders Division, and our work on the Point Defiance Loop Trail earned a Trail Award from ForeverGreen Trails. For a 15-person civil engineering and land surveying firm based right here in Tacoma, that's a pretty good run.
Celebrating Tacoma’s Spirit of Collaboration
Tacoma Rising, founded by Reid Fetters in 2021, has become one of the best things happening in the South Sound business community. Its motto is "Complement, not Compete," and its events, from monthly business tours to The Pitch and the Tacoma Rising Challenge with UW Tacoma students, put people in the same room and get them working together. March Business Madness brought that same spirit to a sports-meets-business bracket, and we're proud to have come out on top. More than the trophy, the event reminded us how much Tacoma's business owners are rooting for each other, and how much we owe this city for the work it has trusted us with.
Building a Safer, More Connected Point Defiance
The Trail Award means a lot to us. ForeverGreen Trails is the Pierce County nonprofit that advocates for a connected network of trails across the county, and its awards recognize people and organizations that make a real, on-the-ground difference. Working alongside Parks Tacoma, our team helped deliver Phase 2 of the Point Defiance Loop Trail: 1.6 miles of paved, shared-use trail separated from traffic that links the Wilson Way Bridge, the Pagoda, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Environmental Learning Center, and Owen Beach. The trail runs 8 to 10 feet wide, sits behind a 3-foot buffer of vehicle rail or landscaped swale in most places, and came with 175 new trees and more than 2,200 native shrubs. Point Defiance draws over 3 million visitors a year, and the community first called for this kind of safe walking and biking route in the park's 2015 master plan update. Seeing families, runners, and cyclists use it every day is the best reward there is.
Recognizing the People Behind the Projects
None of this happens without the people behind it. Our engineers, surveyors, designers, and support staff put in the hours that turn plans into places people actually use. Our clients, partners, and contractors trust us with projects that matter to their communities. And organizations like Tacoma Rising and ForeverGreen Trails keep pushing this region to be a better place to live and do business.
Looking Ahead: Building a Stronger Community Together
Thank you to everyone who made 2026 an award-winning year. We're already looking forward to what we'll build together next.