An Interception by Boston
Engineers in Boston were recently challenged to design a rehabilitation and replacement for sections of the 60-year-old St. James Avenue sewer system. Approximately 20,000 vehicles per...
Balancing on the Tides
Using a system of pivoting, barge-mounted towers, a Virginia contractor floated bridge segments into position 120 ft above the York River, reducing costs and cutting erection time by nearly...
Are There Benefits to Continuing Professional Development?
This paper was selected as the Mead student paper winner for 1996. The author defended the position that continuing professional development should be a priority for all engineers and...
Mapping History
Difficult, environmentally sensitive terrain combined with the fact that Canadian Western Natural Gas's new Banff pipeline will be laid in archaeologically rich ground posed a challenge...
For Sure Shores
Fighting a long history of beach-destroying structures and man-made inlets, coastal engineers are finding that the answer to beach erosion lies in a deeper understanding of its dynamic...
Seepage Stoppers
After 65 years of continuous operation without any major rehabilitation, the Detroit-Windsor tunnel had sprung a few leaks. Engineers used elasticized grout to stop the seepage, a material...
Washington Buildup
Despite its reputation as a city mired in fiscal crisis, Washington, D. C., continues to improve its basic infrastructure. A look at three ongoing projects�a sports arena, a waste water...
A Landslide of Litigation
Recently in Dana Point, Calif. a hillside road-widening project turned into a mountain of litigation when crews unknowingly cut open the slope toe downhill of residences. Design consultants...
Marine Borers Are Back
Cleaning up the nation's harbors has brought a resurgence in marine borer activity. These organisms, mainly the teredo and the limnoria, eat at timber piers, undermining critical...
Bare Bones Buildings
A new approach to fire engineering opens possibilities of designing buildings in which the structural skeleton is part of the architectural statement. Fire and corrosion requirements used...
Seeking Structural Solutions
A photo essay on the unique work of Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish-born engineer and architect whose bridges and buildings have attracted international attention for their unusual esthetics....
Pyramid Power
The pyramids of Giza in Egypt were built with limestone from nearby quarries, not concrete as some have theorized. The three main pyramids of Giza mark a highpoint of pyramid building...
Soft-Ground Subway Construction
With its 89.5 route-mile system up and running, the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) is now completing the $640 million Mid-City E Route. The new line presented formidable...
Parking Lot Corrosion Cure
The $3 million structural repair and restoration of a large post-tensioned parking structure required engineers to replace 2,400 tendons while keeping the parking garage in service. After...
Singapore Showcase
A new bridge in Singapore has a unique pylon design and no piers. The deck hangs from the pylon supported by three back stays. The 100 m overpass bridge was designed for the Singapore...
A Boom in Thailand
In the last decade, Thailand has seen a tremendous economic upswing, and the population of Bangkok has exploded. With this boom comes great opportunities to develop infrastructure, as...
Alluring Approach
A new bridge over the White River in Columbus, Ind., is a unique, architecturally appealing cable-stay, concrete-and-steel structure. The bridge satisfies municipal officials'...
The Taller the Deeper (Available only in the Geo/Environmental Special Issue)
While debate rages on about which structure holds the title of the world's tallest building, there is no dispute over which building has the deepest foundation. At 130 m below...
Nailing A Landslide (Available only in the Geo/Environmental Special Issue)
When mud flows in California threatened to stop traffic on a freeway and erode a street from below, Caltrans worked around the clock to stabilize the slope using soil nailing and shotcrete....
Pump and Treat and Wait (Available only in the Geo/Environmental Special Issue)
Pump and treat, a common ground-water cleanup technique, is slow to clean up deep contaminated aquifers. Adaptive intermittent pumping can increase the cleanup rate�and decrease costs�by...
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