Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Plans
Less than a third of workers at small firms with 100 or fewer employees have a job-sponsored retirement plan, far fewer than that of bigger firms. A survey by the Employee Benefit Research...
Construction Control for Earth and Rockfill Dams
Technical Engineering and Design Guides, as adapted from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 27 This manual provides critical guidance for constructors...
Passage to 2000
On Dec. 31, 1999 the United States turns over ownership and operations of the Panama Canal Commission. In preparation for the handover, the Panama Canal Commission, an independent U.S....
The New Commute
Owners of small engineering firms differ in their opinions about the efficacy of allowing employees to work from home one or more days per week. Some find it difficult to justify the technology...
Advancing Composites (Available in Structural Engineering Special Section only)
Advanced composites, particularly fiber-reinforced polymers, have received considerable attention from bridge owners over the last few years, as cost-effective, durable alternatives to...
Preparing Specifications for Design-Bid Build Projects
The Committee on Specifications of the Construction Division of ASCE has developed a guide to preparing construction specifications for design-bid build projects. The guide contains preparation...
Consulting Engineering
A Guide for the Engagement of Engineering Services
Ground Attack
Buried surfaces made of concrete, ductile iron and carbon steel are susceptible to corrosion by the soil that surrounds them, but there are numerous ways that these surfaces may be protected....
Mix and Match
The U.S. Navy wanted to expand operations at Pearl Harbor, which required a bridge from Oahu to nearby Ford Island. The bridge spans more than 4,000 ft, and combines a fixed bridge and...
Over the Top Concrete
The 60-year-old Tongue River Dam in southeastern Montana is undergoing extensive dam safety and reservoir enlargement modifications. Major features of the project include a 60,000 cfs...
A Tale of Two Bids
In early 1992, the Escambia County Utilities Authority determined that its 2 mgd Avondale Wastewater Treatment Plant should be expanded to 8 mgd to meet the growing needs of the Pensacola,...
Rebuilding Bosnia
A civil engineer serving in the U.S. Army Reserve on deployment in Bosnia-Herzegovina gives a first-hand account of construction in a war-torn country. As a member of the Environmental...
Downtown Goes Uptown in Stainless Steel
In an unusual urban planning endeavor, a business district in Houston upgraded infrastructure, and added stainless steel design elements to unify the area. About $11 million was raised...
A Merger Manual
Mergers and acquisition business deals continue to proliferate in the consulting engineer and construction industry. There are many important issues on both sides of the table, and the...
A Stockholder's Story
A former partner in an engineering consulting firm tells about what happens when a firm goes public. His view is that while it benefitted financially, the firm changed for the worse. The...
Inviting Trouble Downstream
When dam-building advocates, representing power generation, irrigation and flood control interests, get their project built, flood control ranks third in priority. Soon, development encroaches...
Record Spans in Japan
The Japanese bridge authority was tasked in 1970 with overseeing a vast project to link to two main islands of Honshu and Shikoku. The project, scheduled for completion in 2000, comprises...
Floodplain Management
On July 28th, 1997, the City of Fort Collins, Colorado, experienced devastating floods on Spring Creek that resulted in property damage and loss of life. As part of the local floodplain...
Pump-and-Treat Rescue
The pump-and-treat method of remediation has been regarded for years as unsuccessful and untrustworthy. But a recent project in Chicago showed that in conjunction with horizontal wells...
UV Acceptance
Ultraviolet disinfection of wastewater is increasingly being used. The method has been available since the early part of the century, but chlorine was widely available and generally cheaper....
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