Bridge to the Past
Constructed by Maya builders during the seventh century, the PreColumbian bridge at Yaxchilan was the longest in the world for over seven hundred years. Little remains today of this unique...
Hong Kong Flies into the Future
Hong Kong's new airport, Chek Lap Kok, is scheduled to open in 1997. That is the year in which China takes over the government of Hong Kong from Great Britain. The airport,...
Bridge Repair on the Fast Track
For repair with tight deadlines, conventional approaches to inspection and repair might not be fast enough. Where the concept of design-build leaves off, the contractual solution of inspect-repair...
Lessons From Kobe
On Jan. 17, Kobe, Japan became the first post-World War II, heavily populated, industrialized area to bear the full brunt of a high-magnitude earthquake. Engineers hope the resulting destruction...
In the Wet
The concept of using large diameter vertical cylinder piles of steel and concrete is not new. Vertical cylinders constructed in pneumatic caissons go back at least 70 years. Steel cylinders...
NDE for Steel Bridges
Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is the only way to detect fatigue cracks hidden by the paint on steel bridges, and FHWA-sponsored research into the problem has been given highest priority....
Composite Sketch
Composite materials from the aerospace and military sectors are showing promise in highway, bridge and transportation applications. Some of the current and potential applications of composites...
Forging the Link
The Southern California region is known as the freeway capital of the world. The transportation system has been based on the freedom of the individual automobile for more than 25 years....
Impact-Echo Strikes Home
Diagnosing flaws without destroying the structure is the first step to cost-effective repairs. Impact-echo is one of the more successful nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods that have...
Guarding Against Scour
An overview of the magnitude of the bridge scour problem in the United States is presented, using recent bridge failures to illustrate the problem. Procedures and results from the ongoing...
Bridge Design: Reality Bites Back
Many bridge engineers tend to ignore the process nature of reality, the fact that everything in this universe changes from moment to moment. When they are given the responsibility for...
Triumphant Arches
This year's Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award of Merit goes to the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge in Tennessee, the first precast concrete segmental arch bridge...
Lifeline Earthquake Engineering
This proceedings contains papers presented at the Fourth U.S. Conference on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering held in San Francisco, CA, August 10-12, 1995. The conference was organized...
Northridge Earthquake
Lifeline Performance and Post-Earthquake Response
This monograph describes the earthquake performance, emergency response, and recovery for the following lifeline systems: electric power, water, wastewater communications, roads and bridges,...
Wider Ride to the Rainbow
Engineers on the project to widen the entrance to the Rainbow Bridge between New York and Ontario let the aesthetics of the Niagara Falls setting dictate their design decisions. The challenge...
Performance of Deep Foundations Under Seismic Loading
This proceedings,
Ready for Anything
The author describes the temporary bridge developed by Caltrans for use in emergency situations where stretches of highway bridge are damaged. The bridge is made of salvaged railroad flatcars...
Calendar: Bridges 1996
Featured bridges are: Big Four Railroad Bridge (KY); Germantown Covered Bridge (OH); George Street Bridge (IN); Virgin River Bridge (UT); Bryan Bridge (NE); Brush Creek Bridge (KS); Natchez...
Space Exploration: Getting a Handle on Why?
The two prominent economic issues facing the U.S. today are competitiveness and the huge federal deficit. Economics being the counter-intuitive science that it is, a reasonable exploration...
Cables Over the Mississippi
As the designer of the Great River Bridge over the Mississippi between Gulfport, Ill. and Burlington, Iowa, Sverdrup Corp., St. Louis, had to find a way to connect the new five-lane crossing...
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