Peaches and Concrete
One Peachtree Center, Atlanta's latest highrise tower, will measure 62 stories high (860 ft) with 1.42 million sq ft of office space when completed next July. It will also...
Engineering a Monument, Evoking a Nightmare
Rather than simply standing as a backdrop for exhibits, the $53.2 million U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is intended to be part of the fabric of the exhibition itself. Now under construction...
Tackling Trapped Sediments
Crater-sink fluidization has been used to recover sediment from harbors for the past couple of decades. Can this method bypass sediment around dams and return it to eroded beaches, solving...
A New Fast Track for Public Works
Most public contracts are still awarded to the lowest bidder, but some states are experimenting with other approaches for complex projects. In Oregon, officials facing a tight deadline...
Concrete Surface Characterization Using Optical Metrology
The displacement of the surface of a concrete specimen is measured as it cures using an optical method. This method, known as optical metrology, is one in which a line is projected onto...
Reassessing the Risk Assessment
Risk assessments should help an engineer determine cost-effective remedies to environmental pollution. Unfortunately, most don't. Most assessments drastically overestimate...
Landfills: Anatomy of Automated Design
California's 360 acre Bee Canyon landfill (completed last year) sits amid a complicated network of narrow canyons with side slopes 300 ft high. As with most landfill projects,...
Dynamic Compaction of Nuclear Waste
When ponding, caused by settlement of the original soil cover over low-level nuclear waste buried at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Nuclear Plant near Aiken, S.C.,...
The Environment is Good Business in France
The environmental movement is an important political concern in Europe with the Green party gaining ground in several nations. The European Economic Community is developing environmental...
Cleaning Up Chromium
From 1956 to 1985, the United Chrome Products plant in Corvallis, Oregon, took a steady toll on the environment. Leaky plating tanks and the discharge of rinse water into a disposal pit...
Howdy, Partner
Litigation has long been a nemesis to the construction industry. In recent years, contractors and owners have used innovative alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques, such as arbitration,...
Value Engineering at a Superfund Site
The Helen Kramer Landfill ranked fourth on the EPA's National Priorities List and the estimated cost of clean up was about $39 million. By value engineering selected parts...
Controlling Nitrogen in Coastal Waters
Excess nitrogen in coastal waters is becoming a problem worldwide. Nutrients such as nitrogen come from sewage treatment plants, septic tanks, runoff from fertilizer and animal waste,...
Collective Excellence
Building Effective Teams
Safeguarding Steel
U.S. bridges are caught in the money squeeze. Painting has become a luxury few public agencies can afford and complying with EPA regulations has escalated costs even more. The paint/coatings...
Piles Over Problems Sites
It's increasingly difficult to find suitable space for construction in urban areas. Pile foundations can fill the void by making questionable and heavily regulated sites,...
Life in the Fast Track
Through innovative financing and skillful construction management, Oklahoma is proving that transportation megaprojects are still possible, even during an economic downturn. The result...
Motown Tunneling
When finished in 1993, Wayne County Michigan's $69 million wastewater treatment/sewer project will link outlying areas such as Dearborn with sewage treatment facilities in...
Project Management: Keys to Success
Successful construction projects can be traced to several key factors observed by the owner, the AE and the contractor. They include: 1) Goals and commitment of the managing partners agreed...
Double Diamonds: New Brand for a Texas Bridge
Double diamond towers, distinctive as a cattle brand but tall as a 44 story building, have reached landmark status on the Texas Gulf Coast even though the bridge they will carry won't...
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