Managing the Alaska Pipeline Project
At one point in the mid-1970s, construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) was in big trouble�months behind and millions over budget. A major reorganization of the structure...
Consulting Engineering
A Guide for the Engagement of Engineering Services
The purpose of this manual is to outline the functions of the consulting engineer in serving a client, the types of services usually offered, the various methods of determining compensation...
Construction Risks and Liability Sharing
Extensive litigation, large claims, construction conflicts and long delays have been increasing at an alarming rate during the past decade the trend is unmistakable and the dollar magnitude,...
What Contractors Think About Prefabricated Piping
Among 190 of the largest users of pipe, 77% now use large-scale prefabricated piping. These users report an average saving, using prefabricated pipe versus conventional pipe, of 23%. Before...
How Can Construction Specifications Be Improved�
Construction costs could be cut perhaps 5% to 10% if specifications were improved, as the ASCE survey of contractors discloses. Spec writers must have had responsible field experience....
Trench Cave-In: Contractor's Responsibility
The article Can Trench Cave-In Deaths Be Cut� in CIVIL ENGINEERING�ASCE, September 1977, states that the owner's engineer should accept responsibility for the design of temporary...
On Getting Foreign Jobs: Does Uncle Sam Help or Hinder
With his broad overview of the Washington scene, CIVIL ENGINEERING's Gene Halmos sought to get a reading on whether the U.S. government helps or hinders this country's...
Secret to Constructing Pittsburgh's New Busway Within Budget
The owner of Pittsburgh's new South Busway worked hard to create a climate of cooperation, good will, mutual trust, and team work among owner, consulting engineer, contractor,...
Can Trench Cave-In Deaths Be Cut�
About 100 construction workers die each year in trench cave-ins. That toll can be cut, two engineer-researchers conclude. Approach would be to make more-adequate geotechnical analysis...
Profile of the design construct companies
When U.S. private industry constructs, perhaps the most common approach is a single contract covering both design and construction. How did D/C firms originate? What have been the top...
Structural Failures and How to Prevent Them
Reducing failures of buildings and other structures requires compentent design; clear communication of that design to the contractor by means of engineering drawings, etc.; careful and...
Desperate Need to Slash Construction Cost of New Subways
Subways and subway stations cost far too much to build in the U.S. Whereas Londoners recently built 3-1/2 miles of subways and subway stations for only $18,000,000, the Washington Metro...
Improved Design of Highway Culvert
New culvert design procedures, incorporating improved inlet concepts, make significant construction savings possible through hydrauically efficient use of the culvert barrel. Two representative...
Canadian University to Launch Building-Engineering Program
To meet the practical needs of the building industry, Sir George Williams University (Montreal) plans to launch this fall a building-engineering program. The new curriculum is expected...
Are Contractors Treated Fairly�
Too often, specifications and contracts are written vaguely. The contractor has to deal with many unknowns and unpredictable factors. What can be done to ease this situation and reduce...
Protecting Your Firm against Liability Claims
In recent years, lawsuits against design professionals have sharply increased. One consulting firm in four now faces a liability claim. Many suits result when the same architect, engineer,...
Pueblo Dam - A Bureau of Reclamation First
Pueblo Dam, the first massive-head buttress dam in Bureau of Reclamation history, is nearing completion. Pueblo Dam is a feature of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project in Colorado. The 23 buttresses...
Competitive Alternative to Minority Quotas/Goals
The City of Chicago and contractors working in the city have taken a big step toward solving the affirmative-action problem. Many of the plans through which the Federal government has...
An Engineer Rebuts a Contractor's Charges of Unfair Contracts
An engineer responds to the article, Are Construction Contracts Fair, (CE, May, 1975) by contractor George A. Fox and lawyer Max E. Greenberg. Engineers should not be given additional...
Dialog Between Engineers: Designers, Contractors, Manufacturers
A case history showing the untypical situation where engineers from all segments of the construction industry worked together to design and build a power plant. Site conditions were such...
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