February 2009  |  Volume 79, Number 2

Appraising the Brooklyn Bridge

By Mishac K. Yegian, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, Serafim Arzoumanidis, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, Bryan P. Strohman, A.M.ASCE, Kamal Kishore, P.E., and Jay Patel, P.E., M.ASCE

A comprehensive two-part evaluation of the Brooklyn Bridge used the most up-to-date modeling techniques and thorough analyses to determine whether the venerable bridge’s foundations would need rehabilitation to withstand a 2,500-year seismic event.

Special Section: Guiding Critical Infrastructure

By Robert L. Reid

Last December, asce hosted an industry summit in northern Virginia to help determine the attributes of projects that are not just safe, successful, and resilient but also are in keeping with the principles of sustainable development. The meeting’s goal: to help outline “a proactive way forward in preventing infrastructure catastrophes such as the levee failures in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina or the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.” 

Guiding Principles for Critical Infrastructure

ASCE’s Critical Infrastructure Guidance Task Committee offers advice on ways to protect critical infrastructure— those systems, facilities, and assets so vital that if they were destroyed or disabled the economy and the health, safety, and welfare of the public would be affected.

Crossing the Nile

By Uwe Krenz

The construction of a new, 336 m long dam on the Nile River to replace a 75-year-old structure has raised the level of the previous reservoir by 50 cm and is providing a reliable water source for irrigation. The barrage also generates 460 GWh of electricity per year, enough to supply 200,000 households, and its two navigation locks are a boon to river navigation. The dam has also made an additional 60,000 ha of land suitable for agricultural use.

Saving Silver Lake

By Steven P. Roy and Andrea M. Braga, A.M.ASCE

The Town of Wilmington, Massachusetts, implemented a number of measures that are part of low-impact development in order to collect and treat storm water that previously flowed directly into nearby Silver Lake, which ultimately drains to a tributary of the troubled Ipswich River. The project, now being monitored to evaluate its performance, is expected to benefit the lake as well as the river.