Highway Embankment Doubles as Dam
By slightly modifying the design of a highway and its drainage, Pennsylvania engineers were able to reclaim about 100 acres of former swampland for residential use. Without extra cost...
Stamford's Urban Renewal Project Takes Off
Stamford, Conn. is one of the most fiscally sound cities in the United States. And a key reason is that over the past 13 years, it has become the home of 16 of the nation's...
Underground Buildings Save Energy
While properly designed underground buildings use less energy for heating and cooling, that's not always the reason they're underground. For example, San Francisco's...
Washington METRO: A People's Eye View
Much has been written about the technical aspects of this 101 mile, 86 station system. But as important in Washington, D.C. were the political aspects. Backed by Presidents; scrutinized...
Corps Takes New Approach to Flood Control
As urban development increased storm runoff into the Charles River, a dam built in 1910 became inadequate to protect the Boston area from flooding. Boston suffered $5,000,000 in flood...
More Than Just Another Routine Job
Split-second scheduling, attention to community needs and esthetics�� all figures into the design and construction of the Mission Road highway-railroad grade separation in central Los...
Largest Inverted Shell Houses Two Theaters
A meeting center in Albany, New York, has such a complex shape that it took months just to design its surface mathematically. Perched on a pedestal, it is nearly elliptical in plan. From...
Modern Engineering Saves Troubled Dam
A badly deteriorated and potentially unsafe dam has been recycled. The 135-ft-high, 300-ft-long LaPrele Dam is a concrete slab-and-buttress structure. Its sloping face slab has leaked...
New York: Water City
New York's waterfront (some 584 miles) is its most impressive natural resource and its biggest management headache. In Manhattan, changes in waterfront technology (container...
Will EPA Relax Its Mandatory Secondary Treatment Requirement�
In the Clean Water Act of 1977, Congress said that under some circumstances communities discharging to marine waters might not have to provide full secondary treatment. At the present...
Coming This Year: Reusable Link with Space
Scheduled for launch in early 1980, the Space Shuttle is the first reusable space vehicle. It will reduce space flight cost, saving an estimated $11.2 billion between 1980 and 1991. This...
Building Skyscrapers in Orbit
NASA plans to build a host of large structures (communications antennas, remote-sensing radiometers, solar power satellites, etc.) in space. Three ways to build them are: (1)Fabricate...
What Has the U.S. Gotten Out of the Space Program�
Since the time of its creation in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has spent billions of dollars on space activities. What has the U.S. gotten out of these tremendous...
First Line of Atlanta's New Transit System Opens
With lessons learned from San Francisco and Washington, D.C., Atlanta hopes to avoid some of the problems encountered by those cities in building and operating its new transit system....
Has Metrication Run Out of Gas�
The U.S. is the only major country not to have adopted the International System of Units (SI) as its official measurement system, but the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 established official...
Water Management Improves with Systems Application
The Marsh Run watershed project (in north-central Ohio) is a landmark example of applying systems principles to water resource management. Designed in the 1950's and completed...
What Happens to Cities When the Gas Runs Out�
Many suburban-urban areas will be crippled by gas rationing; commuters may be unable to get to work until emergency procedures are in place. Some far-sighted communities, however, have...
Confusion Prevails in Federal Minority Business Efforts
Minority business participation in federally-funded programs should be doubled, according to President Jimmy Carter. A number of programs have been set up to accomplish this goal; an overview...
Environmental Problems and Products
Solving environment-related problems with certain products in case history format. Includes: Rebuilding a pelican's nest in Colorado, erosion control. Converting a garbage...
Regulations: More is Less
Federal regulations have mushroomed since 1969. Agencies to write and enforce regulations have grown as well. Now, say engineers in industry, it is increasingly not economically feasible...
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