In the past, civil engineers were focusing on design and construction of new facilities, such as buildings, bridges and highways, water treatment and environmental facilities, foundations and tunnels. Today's civil engineer not only has to design new facilities but must also analyze the effects of deterioration on infrastructure elements, consider system interdependencies and evaluate life-cycle impacts while also considering environmental and economic sustainability within the context of society. Civil engineers must be equipped with in-depth knowledge of traditional, fundamental principals and new technologies in order to address the complex, interdisciplinary problems faced within society. However, of all the engineering advances, the Brooklyn Bridge stands out as perhaps the most famous and most remarkable.
It took more than a decade to build, cost the life of its designer, and was constantly criticized by skeptics who thought the entire thing was going to fall into New York's East River. The bridge, with its majestic stone towers and graceful steel cables, isn't just a beautiful New York City landmark. It's also a very dependable route for many thousands of daily commuters.
John Roebling, a German immigrate, began dreaming of spanning the East River between New York and Brooklyn on 1857, when he drew designs for enormous towers that would hold the bridge's cables. The Civil War put any such plans on hold, but in 1867 the New York State legislature chartered a company to build a bridge across the East River. And Roebling was chosen as its chief engineer. Just as work was beginning on the bridge in the summer of 1869, tragedy struck. John Roebling severely injured his foot in a freak accident as he was surveying...
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...ridge still functions everyday as a vital route for New York commuters. And while the roadway structures have been changed to accommodate automobiles, the pedestrian walkway is still a popular attraction for strollers, sightseers, and tourists.
Thus, we conclude, that civil engineering is considered as the first discipline of the various branches of engineering after military engineering, and includes the designing, planning, construction, and maintenance of the infrastructure. The works include numerous facilities that affect the life of human beings. It is intimately associated with the private and public sectors, including the individual homeowners and international enterprises. It is one of the oldest engineering professions, and ancient engineering achievements due to civil engineering include the pyramids of Egypt and road systems developed by the Romans.
It became a link between Fort Erie, Canada and Buffalo, New York. The bridge is over one mile long, 5,800 feet, and holds three lanes of traffic. The center lane may go north or south depending on the volume of traffic. In 1934, the Great Depression caused a change.
The Bailey Island Bridge is located in Harpswell, Maine on Route 24. Before the making of the bridge, the fishermen that lived on Bailey’s Island wanted a bridge that connected their island to Orr’s Island. The town of Harpsweell made and voted on their decisions in the weekly town meetings (“Bailey”). The project was stalled because of some of the mainlanders in the town, but it was brought back up for discussion in 1912. They first agreed on a “road” which would connect the two islands and would be constructed with timber. This was to cost $3,000. The cost quickly reached $25,000 at a later town meting because they decided to build the bridge with stone and concrete instead. Once the legislature decided to pass a bill stating that it would fun state’s highway and bridge projects, they decided to move forward with the project (Hansen, 36).
Ever since Joliet first crossed the portage between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River in 1673, explorers, investors, politicians, and farmers alike all agreed that constructing a canal across the continental divide could benefit them greatly. The canal would connect the two largest water systems in the United States, creating a continuous waterway between New York and New Orleans, but more importantly, place Chicago on perhaps the most valuable piece of real estate in North America and in the position to become an international city almost overnight.
Following the American Civil War, the use of railroads for trade was booming. The Detroit, Michigan and Windsor Ontario border, separated by the Detroit River, was a center for railroads at the time with the Michigan Central and Great Western railroads operating on their respective sides of the border. In the early 20th century, the railroads used ferries to transport shipments across the river. As production and population grew, so did the shipments of goods, specifically grain. An increasing delay in the supply and demand of agricultural products was hurting the economy for both farmers and consumers. In 1909, a tunnel was constructed to transport trains under the Detroit River but the need for a bridge with mass transportation abilities was still needed. This led to the construction of the Ambassador Bridge in 1929, funded by financier Joseph Bower and engineered and constructed by the heralded Pittsburgh McClintic-Marshall Company. No one could have ever foreseen the societal and economical impact the decision to engineer a bridge would have.
...far too much backlash in terms of human geography, trade, and ecosystems to ever occur, especially since the canals have existed for so long. After nearly a hundred and fifteen years of existence, Chicago’s defiance of its river’s flow is here to stay for a long time yet.
The 14-year construction of this urban landmark that stretched across the East River was completed in May of 1883. This was not only a bridge; it stood for many significant symbols. During this time period, the industrial aspects of things were at its peak and this represented the strength of the industry. Also it symbolized the use of immigrant workers and how much time and effort they put into making this bridge. Twenty seven men died while creating this bridge and that is something that most people forget when looking at the bridge, people risked there lives while giving a society that people needed. Not only that but it took tons and tons of steel and iron in order to complete this bridge and it was part of the steel and iron boom. This landmark led to the rise o...
When the design for the World Trade Center was first envisioned, the magnificence of its structure was expected to surpass the greatest feats of Civil engineering in the world. When the Center was completed in 1973 it gained the distinction of being the world’s tallest tower. It gained the type of attention that was given to the Eiffel tower and the Empire State Building as it was too going to break records and inspire greatness by its simple but massive stature. It was to also have social, ideological, political, and economic impact on the US and the world as well as that of its engineering aspects. To America it would represent proudly the might of its capitalist society. It would also be a home of thousands of political and financial employees of the US as well as the nations that participate in trade with the US. The NY and NJ port authorities began contemplating building a World Trade Center in 1961; the same year JFK announced his intent to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Such lofty ideas challenged the present technological boundaries and were successful in stretching those walls ever further.
In her essay,”Importance of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Stephanie Stiavetti suggest that “It maintained this point of pride for nearly 25 years until the Verrazano- Narrows Bridge was built in New York in 1964. Today, this historic San Francisco landmark holds its place as the second largest suspension bridge in the country, behind Verrazano Narrows.” Back then, experts thought that it would be impossible to build a bridge across the tides and currents in that area because strong currents and tides would make construction extremely difficult and dangerous. The water is over 500 feet deep in the center of the channel, and along with the area's strong winds and thick fog, the idea of building a bridge there seemed nearly impossible. Despite all of the problems of building a bridge across the Golden Gate, Joseph Strauss was named as lead engineer for the project. Construction began January 5, 1933, and in the end cost more than $35 million to
This dream began in the 1890s as the vision of entrepreneur William T. Love. Love had an idea to take advantage of the Niagara Falls water by building a canal between the upper and lower Niagara Rivers, in an effort to generate power to fuel the industry and homes of his would-be model city.1 Love was only successful in initiating his dream project but due to the timing of multiple economic factors, including the Great Depression and Nikola Tesla's discovery of cost effective transfer of electricity, the dream had to be abandoned, leaving behind a partially dug ditch.1 The events that occurred after this have created what has now become known as one of the most controversial environmental tragedies in the U.
After Roebling’s success in bridging the Niagara Gorge using a web truss for stabilization, New York legislators granted Roebling permission to construct the world’s first steel suspension bridge, which would connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. Unfortunately, however, Roebling did not get to see his idea come to fruition. While taking final compass readings, some of Roebling's toes were smashed by a boat, leading to his contracting tetanus, from which he died three weeks later. After John Augustus Roebling's death, his son, Washington A. Roebling, who had collaborated with his father on many projects and had helped design the Brooklyn Bridge, took the project into his own hands, becoming “Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge”.
This class has examined the various accomplishments of ancient Rome, many that have been carried on throughout time and influenced numerous cultures around the world. Amongst those accomplishments were the development of concrete and the utilization of arches. This paper will examine the Roman development of both concrete and the infamous concrete arch that is utilized in many modern day structures today.
What is a bridge? A bridge is a structure providing continuous passage over a body of water, roadway, or valley. Every bridge looks different from the another. Their bridge structure is different. There are nine types of main bridges. Bridge engineers use a lot of geometry to help them design the different bridges. Without geometry, the bridges would not be safe.
Civil engineering has been one of the most important revolutionary keystones of civilization as it has been able to fundamentally change the development of the society throughout the history of mankind. It is a profession with largely human interest in mind. The civil engineers have been able to make use of the natural resources in the environment to make human life more comfortable and efficient. They have also been able to make our day to day life trouble-free by constructing buildings to live, learn and work, roads and railways to travel, bridges to connect unreachable points, airports for air travel and so on. When planning, designing, constructing the civil engineers have always given a great attention to facts such as safety, serviceability,
Picture the world without skyscrapers, bridges, and even transportation well without engineers that's the world we would live in. A great man by the name of Albert Einstein once said, “Scientists investigate that which already is; Engineers create that which has never been." It takes a very unique and skilled person to become an engineer; you have to be dedication to your passion to succeed. The word engineer actually comes from a Latin word meaning "cleverness". Engineering is known today as the art or science of making practical application of knowledge of pure sciences. It is the engineer part of the human brain that has created civilization. Whether you think that's a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing, you should understand what a huge thing it is and how it works. Engineering has many different aspects, so I will explain the history of engineering as well as identify structural and mechanical engineering.
Engineers in the Ancient Era were mainly used for building and supervising the pyramid constructions.