Historic Preservation of Engineering Works
The preservation of historic industrial and transportation engineering works is examined. Preservation is reviewed in the context of history, and preservation through recording is explored....
The ABC'S (and Q) of Cold-Formed Steel Design
Cold-formed structural members are steel components that have been put into their cross-sectional shape by cold bending of flat sheets. Local compressive buckling must be carefully considered...
From Field to Map�Untouched by Human Hands
After a few years of experience with computerized surveying systems, surveyors are finding that increased efficiency and accuracy are justifying capital expenditures. Several users of...
Why Bother with Historic Preservation�
Two case histories are examined regarding old dams that were preserved because of their historic importance, as well as their practical use. One example concerns a dam that was exposed...
Hazardous Waste Management in California: Lessons for the U.S.
California has what many say is the best hazardous waste management program in the U.S. In fact, the Federal government used the California program as the basis for a national plan for...
Ugly Dump Site Transformed into Recreation Mega-Facility
The civil engineering project selected as the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement of 1981 is described. While other communities bemoan the use and loss of land to refuse disposal,...
Big New Radio Telescope Array Listens in on Space
The world's most powerful radio telescope is so sensitive that it can detect a small CB rig operating on a distant planet. The Very Large Array (VLA) Radio Telescope Facility...
Building Rehabilitation: The Last Resort
Rehabilitation of buildings often seems initially cheaper than new construction, but the hidden costs of renovation are making many builders prefer new structures. The advantages of new...
Construction Productivity Improvement: How to Get Started
The greatest cost reductions and improvements in speed and efficiency on construction sites have come when management analyzes work methods, administrative and environmental constraints,...
Concrete-pavement Recycling could Slash Rehab Costs 30%
During the past few years, the recycling of highway pavements, especially asphalt pavements, has been in the news. Yet one promising development has drawn little attention: the recycling...
Employee Appraisals: Define and Motivate High Standards of Performance
The committee on Engineering Management at the Individual Level (EMIL) conducted a survey of civil engineering consulting firms' employee appraisal programs. The purpose of...
Guide to Right-of-Way Survey Practices
Guidelines are described for right of way surveys with regard to properly executed research, field surveys, monumentation, platting and recording of plats, and descriptions by trained...
West Virginia Cooling Tower Collapse Caused by Premature Form Removal
The collapse of a reinforced concrete cooling tower under construction at Willow Island, W.Va. in April 1978 resulted in 51 fatalities, making it the worst construction accident in American...
Willow Island Aftermath: The Limits of OSHA
In April 1978 a natural-draft hyperbolic concrete cooling tower under construction at Willow Island, W.Va. collapsed. Fifty-one workers, suspended on a scaffold supported mainly by a layer...
Earth-Filled Slurry Walls Provide Economical Seepage Control
Slurry trench cut-off walls are often used for seepage control after structures requiring excavation are completed, but at a construction site on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway project...
Surveying Takes Another Giant Step Forward
The introduction of short-range electronic distance measurement in 1971 revolutionized surveying. Thousands of surveying and engineering firms across the U.S. today routinely use EDM for...
Mapping America is Never-Ending Task for USGS
For its first topographic surveys, begun in 1879, USGS measured distances by counting revolutions of a wheel, ran traverses by chain and compass, and used a barometer to determine elevations....
Land-Use Planning: Grows More Exact with the Help of USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey has turned its considerable talents and resources towards providing earth-science information for urban planners and, consequently, developers. This article...
USGS Sharpening Water-Quality Management Tools
By 1983, the U.S. will have spent over $83 billion to upgrade treatment facilities to advanced waste treatment. Much of this furious effort will be in vain, won't produce...
Why Does a Federal Demonstration Project Succeed or Fail�
This is a condensed version of an article published in
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