Solar Energy for Heating Homes: How Practical�
There is a widespread belief that on-site solar energy for heating homes is still not a proven technology and that, in any event, it's much too expensive. The fact is that...
America's Covered Bridges
Soon after the Revolutionary War, bridge construction became more important in the United States. Early builders developed by trail and error an economical, permanent, long-span covered...
Re-decking a Bridge With Precast Concrete
Re-decking a 1627-ft deck girder bridge on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with precast concrete slabs allowed the bridge to remain partially open to traffice during the entire construction...
The Fly-Over: It Unclogs Urban Traffic in A Hurry
Fly-overs are light-weight, low-cost, prefabricated steel structures that elevate only one or two lanes over a traffic-choked city intersection but dramatically reduce congestion. By removing...
Computerizing Public Works Design
Computers are an easy way to increase engineering design productivity. This is especially important to public works departments who have decreasing budgets and increasing work loads. This...
Baltimore Borrows Bridge Beams
A look at the construction of the Baltimore Convention Center, its four domelike exhibition halls, the main lobby and its service areas. The Center's four columnless exhibit...
Vail Pass Highway�Respecter of Mountain Ecology
Environmental constraints to a large degree controlled both the design and construction of a 14-mi segment of Interstate Highway 70 through Vail Pass in Colorado and necessitated adoption...
San Antonio Freeway: Social-Impact Landmark
San Antonio's McAllister Freeway, or rather its proposed construction, aroused so much furor as to generate national publicity in the early 1970s. Objections arose because...
Parrotts Ferry Bridge: Pioneer in Lightweight, Pumped Concrete
Spanning the Stanislaus River in Northern California, this bridge includes a 640-ft center span that is the world's longest span in lightweight concrete and the longest bridge...
Birth of the Synthetic Fuels Industry
The U.S. is now in the early stages of creating a synthetic fuels industry, a much needed step to help to decrease America's dependence on foreign oil imports. Synfuels refer...
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Pioneers in Conservation Approach
One way to save fuel costs in sewage treatment plants is to use methane gas produced during sludge digestion as fuel. Cleveland's Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant, however,...
Strategic Petroleum Reserves: Billion Dollar Project to Provide Energy Security for U.S., Part 1 and 2
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, created in 1975, is intended to provide security to the U.S. by storing 750 million barrels of crude oil in salt domes in Louisiana and Texas. Since 1976,...
Regulations Complicate Land Reclamation in the West
The 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act provides necessary protection to land during and after strip mining. However, according to the coal industry, some of the regulations...
What Can be Done to Boost the Efficiency of the Civil Engineering Profession�
In view of all the talk about the declining efficiency of American business, how can civil engineering works be planned, designed, constructed, operated, or maintained more efficiently?...
Pavement Recycling Catching On
Sparked by rising prices of asphalt, aggregates, energy, and construction labor, and plagued by a decline in the real dollars available for highway and road maintenance, many highway departments...
Inspecting Dam Construction
Through and competent inspection during construction is crucial to assure dam safty. Inspection for dam construction is more important than for other types of structures because plans...
How Texas got a New Highway Plan and More Construction Dollars
Texas has a new highway system plan, a new systems approach to highway design and about $300 million a year increase in highway funds over the next 20 years. Here are two articles that...
Ports '80
Papers from twenty-three sessions of the speciality conference on energy ports and terminals are presented. The theme of the conference was Energy, Ports, Perspective, and considerations...
Seepage Cutoff Wall Installed Through Dam is Construction First
A new construction technique has been developed which provides a permanent solution to the foundation problems at Wolf Creek Dam. Muddy flows and sinkholes discovered in 1968 led to a...
Ontario Writes New Bridge Code
In 1976, Ontario's Ministry of Transportation and Communications decided to write its own bridge design code, breaking away from the AASHTO code, because: (1)It wanted a metric...
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