Civl Engineering
April 2009

Civil Engineering

The Magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers

April 2009  |  Volume 79, Number 4


Avrasyaconsult

ON THE COVER:
A 60 ft (18.3 m) high plane of stone engraved with the words of the First Amendment—which guarantees, among other freedoms, that of the press—adorns the expanded and technologically advanced new Newseum, in Washington, D.C.(Photograph
© ESTO/Jeff Goldberg)

 

Features

Newsmaker

By Daniel A. Sesil, P.E., M.ASCE, Douglas P. González, P.E., M.ASCE, and Matthew D. Melrose, P.E.

Situated prominently on Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation’s capital, the new Newseum stands as a bold icon not only for the city but also for the American people and, indeed, the entire world. Conceived as an architectural expression of the First Amendment and a free press, the building is the realization of an unusually complex structural scheme that evolved from thoughtful dialogue between the architects and the engineers.

Crossing Continents and Centuries

By Daniel Horgan, CEng, and Christian Ingerslev, P.E., CEng, F.ASCE

Located at the bottom of the Bosporus, a 58 m deep immersed tunnel—the deepest tunnel of its kind in the world—is expected to open by 2013, connecting the European and Asian sides of Istanbul via rail. The 1.4 km long tunnel is the centerpiece of a $3.5-billion project that includes 9.8 km of bored tunnels, 3 new underground stations and 37 grade-level stations, and improvements to a rail line that ultimately will run for 76 km.

Omaha Plans Ahead

By Glenn Dostal, P.E., and Kevin Tobin, P.E.

The recent completion in Omaha, Nebraska, of the 100 mgd (378 ML/d) Platte West Water Treatment Plant and its associated well field is the culmination of decades of planning by the owner of the facilities, Omaha’s Metropolitan Utilities District. The $352-million effort is expected to supply Omaha with high quality drinking water for decades to come.

A Cut Above

By Ben Arndt, P.E., P.G., M.ASCE, and Joseph Colley, P.E.

To create a passing lane on a steep, two-lane highway on a landslide-prone hillside in Colorado, engineers employed soil nail retaining walls and mechanically stabilized earth walls supported by very long micropiles.

 Keith Philpott/HDR, Inc., left

 

Courtesy of the Mount Washington Cog Railway, top right; Ben Arndt/YEH and Associates, middle left; National Science Foundation, middle right; Courtesy of the Alter Group, bottom right


Letter • Policy Briefing • News Briefs • Technology • History Lesson • Editor’s Note • Books • The Law