Reforming Japan's Public Works
Japan's public works bidding system has traditionally been dominated by money politics and industry collusion, which has served to keep out small Japanese companies as well...
Light at the End of the Chunnel
While the construction of the Channel tunnel was an engineering triumph, the project also had its share of cost overruns, inadequately prepared contract documents, and disputes over safety...
Engineers and Contractors Go Global
The telecommunication explosion and the rise of free-trade agreements are pushing consulting engineers and construction companies toward globalization, a trend seen in past decades among...
Poland Gets Moving
Poland's transportation network is a victim of two world wars, foreign domination, and neglected maintenance, but there are ambitious plans to rebuild the road and rail systems....
The Inflation Equation
The authors, a Brazilian and an American involved in a US$1 billion-plus project to build schools in the state of Rio de Janeiro, discuss how they managed despite monthly inflation of...
Safety at the Site
The engineer should not be responsible for safety at the construction site. Most standard contract documents allocate this responsibility in construction means, methods and sequences to...
Deep Dig, Tight Squeeze
Since it opened in 1928, the North Station/Boston Garden Complex has secured a firm place in local history. Boston Garden, home of the Bruins hockey and Celtics basketball teams, has been...
The Key is Constructability
Construction generally involves the collective efforts of owners, designers, contractors and suppliers. During the design phase, the engineer should be mindful of such critical elements...
Pregame Show
The 1996 Summer Olympics are still two years off, but Atlanta's painstaking preparation is in full swing. One key element is a carefully crafted construction program. The...
Japan Builds 21st Century Monuments
Japanese civil engineers are designing and constructing an extensive array of 21st century landmarks that incorporate innovative technology applied to industrial restructuring, advanced...
The New Clark Bridge: Saddle-Draped Cables
The new $85 million, 108 ft wide Clark-Bridge replaces a 20 ft wide 1928 truss bridge at Alton, Ill., carrying US 67 over the Mississippi about one mile above the recently completed Lock...
Chicago Automates Expressway Lanes
Chicago motorists will soon reclaim another rebuilt expressway in October with substantial completion of a $450 million, 7.5 mi portion of I90/94, the John F. Kennedy Expressway. The two...
Constructing Around Contamination
When soil and ground water contamination are found at a construction site, completing the project on time and within budget is always a challenge. Typical problems include constraints...
Existing Sewer Evaluation and Rehabilitation
This manual,
Reconstruction of the West Breakwater at Port Sines, Portugal
This volume,
Spanning the Grand Canyon
Replacement of a bridge across the Grand Canyon challenged engineers to create a design in keeping with the area's beauty, history and protected environment. Their answer...
Civilian Structures: Taking the Defensive
The 1992 terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in New York posed a challenging question to the engineering community: Can we design cost-effective structural systems for public and...
Argentina: Back in Business
Having achieved democracy and stabilized its economy, Argentina is working to improve its transport, telephone and power systems and to ease its housing shortage; the local construction...
Rebuilding the Former Soviet States: Perspectives on the Construction Market
The ex-Soviet republics' potential cannot be ignored, but history has placed formidable obstacles in the way of transforming their construction industries. The author, who...
Water on Stone
Schal Bovis, a Chicago construction-services firm, has shown that Japan is not entirely a closed market. With more than a dozen major Japanese projects under its belt, it has broken through...
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