Our Grand Erie Canal: A Splendid Project, A Little Short of Madness
As the first major water project in the United States, the old Erie Canal had major consequences on the economy and on civil engineering. Built in 1817-1825 to take advantage of the lowest...
Historic Turning Points in Municipal Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal, 1850-1932
1850-1880: Urbanization and development of large public water supplies combined to overload cesspools and privy-vaults. Sewers were constructed to protect public health. 1880-1900: Debate...
Harnessed Water Power Spawns First Great Industrial City
Lowell, Mass. was founded in 1822 at a site on the Merrimack River. The city's developers brought together some of the most advanced ideas of the day in the areas of power...
1842: Old Croton Aqueduct Brings Water, Rescues Manhattan From Fire, Disease
From 1774 to 1835 Manhattan experienced tremendous growth but needed better water supply to protect public health and to fight fires. Several proposals for providing water were forwarded...
Railroads, Truss Bridges and the Rise of the Civil Engineer
The huge growth of the railroads during the nineteenth century was the direct result of herculean efforts on the part of civil engineers. Likewise, the development of the civil engineering...
James B. Eads and His St. Louis Bridge
Eads Bridge at St. Louis, a century old engineering achievement, was designed, promoted, and built by an intensely dedicated and self-educated man, James B. Eads. This structure was an...
The Magnificent Obsession of TVA
Before the TVA came, the Tennessee Valley region was one of the nation's poorest: no electricity; deep, gullied erosion of the hilly farm country; periodic devastating flooding...
The Extraordinary Genius of Arthur E. Morgan
When he died at 97, on Nov.16, 1975, Arthur E. Morgan, Hon.M.ASCE, left an unprecedented legacy in engineering, history, education, sociology, and many other subjects. In 1913, already...
Philadelphia Bridge Sparked Growth of Prestressed Concrete in the U.S.
Prestressing has been used for centuries. For instance, iron bands were heat-shrunk over built-up wooden wheels to increase their resistance to damage. In 1888, a man named Jackson from...
Robert Moses: Great Builder of the 20th Century
In building the first major U.S. public work �- the Erie Canal �- the engineering challenge was to cross hundreds of miles of farmland and forests with technologies relatively new to the...
Jane Jacobs: Urban Planning Heretic
The impact of Jane Jacobs' book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, is assessed and, to some extent, contrasted with the more tangible legacy of...
Design/Construct Companies�� Builders for Industry
Highlights in the evaluation of design/construct companies. How Koppers is establishing better dialog with all 7,000 professional employees. How Fluor has grown thanks to gutsy hiring...
Professional Turning Points in Civil Engineering History
Historical review of the emergence of civil engineering in the United States as a profession, using the progressively changing standards of education, technical competence and public responsibility...
Civil Engineering Students Adopt Children's Project
While implementing their philosophy of uniting Student Chapter activities and community service, Members of the Northeastern University ASCE Student Chapter have planned, designed, financed,...
Concrete Canoe Racing Stimulates Interest in ASCE Student Chapter
Concrete Canoe construction and racing have become a very popular ASCE Student Chapter activity. Such a program can publicize a chapter's activities in general and can serve...
European Water Treatment Practices�And What We Can Learn From Them
This article is of crucial significance to the American water-supply industry. We say this because for the most part, American engineers are largely unfamiliar with European water-treatment...
Nambe Falls Dam�First Mechanically Prestressed Concrete Dam in U.S.
An unusual combination of a curved earth embankment, a concrete gravity thrust block, and concrete thin arch prestressed with embedded vertical flat jacks has created Nambe Falls Dam,...
Precast Liners May Cut Tunnel Cost 25%
On the Bureau of Reclamation's Buckskin Mountain's Tunnel in Arizona, the low bid was for $58,000,000, about $21,000,000 less than the low bid for design using...
Robert Byrne Portrays the Civil Engineer as the Hero
Editor, humorist, novelist, and pool player all combine to describe ASCE member Robert Byrne. With three books already to his credit, this multi-talented civil engineer has recently published...
Why Do Bridges Fail�
From the study of 143 bridge failures that occurred throughout the world from 1847 to 1975, it is found that there are nine categories of failure. The most frequent of these is failure...
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