Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge: Innovative Design Wins Awards, Moves More People
The original “Q Bridge” was built over the Quinnipiac River in New Haven, Conn., in 1958, but within 30 years its six lanes were insufficient for the growing traffic. Shortly before it was officially dedicated as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in 1995 (to commemorate the attack on Pearl Harbor), local officials had decided it was time to replace the structure with a new bridge. For two decades the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CONNDOT), the Federal Highway Administration, the...
A Tunnel That Improves Automated Vehicles
Willow Run, a manufacturing complex located near Ypsilanti, Mich., was built by the Ford Motor Company in 1940 as one of the first facilities dedicated to the mass production of military aircraft, primarily the famous B-24 Liberator heavy bomber, the most produced American military aircraft of all time—at its peak, Willow Run produced 650 B-24s per month. The airport built to support this production is considered by some historians to be the first modern airport. Though no longer used to make...
From the Editor: Bridges to the Future
Every time my sister crosses a bridge, she gets anxious. This has happened her entire life, and, although not quite panic-attack-inducing, the anxiety is palpable. The fear of crossing bridges is common enough that it has a name: gephyrophobia. Trained as a structural engineer, I often marvel at the amount of weight a bridge carries and how many people cross them without ever giving it a thought. That is, until bridges make the headlines when tragedy strikes, and then bridges are on everyone’s m...
Bridge Code: Steel Bridge Design Specifications Revised in New AASHTO Edition
Sponsored by: Interim revisions to AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (7th Edition) were published in 2016 with a few minor revisions to the steel bridge design sections of the specifications. The 8th edition of AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications is expected to be published later in 2017. As far as steel bridge design is concerned, a major revision to the design of bolted field splices and minor revisions to other sections are expected. Let’s take a deeper lo...
Executive Corner: Get Your Firm ‘Sale Ready,’ Even If It’s Not for Sale
You’ve decided to sell your house, so you fixed that broken screen door, pruned the hedges and cut the lawn. Why do those things now? Because you want to show your house in the best possible light to potential buyers to maximize its sales price. You’ve “gotten your house in order.” Like selling a house, to affect a successful sale of your firm, you need to get that house in order, too. You want to present your firm in the best possible light to all potential buyers—external or internal—to maxim...
Infrastructure Outlook: A Bridge Too Far (Gone)?
One of the most frustrating things about contemporary times is that people are unable to change their mindset as fast as technology progresses. According to American design expert Donald A. Norman, “Technology may change rapidly, but people change slowly.” And Steve McCurray, the American photographer best known for his world-famous photo of the “Afghan Girl,” says, “Technology changes, times change, but the essence of the culture and the people basically stays the same.” The truth of these o...
Sponsored Content: Mott MacDonald Optimized Complex Designs with Digital Workflows
Sponsored by: Project The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a GBP 4 billion design-build project initiated to address the overflow from London’s Victorian-era sewers as well as meet environmental standards. It is the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken by the UK water industry. The design must include 10 kilometers of tunnel works running 70 meters below central London and six shafts in public view. Mott MacDonald needed to implement an effective communication, collabora...
A High-Visibility Project: Examining the Historic and Beautiful New Portageville Bridge
By Mark Scacco, P.E. In 1852—the year women were being arrested for wearing pants (Emma Snodgrass in Boston) and the first edition of Peter Roget’s Thesaurus was published—the Erie Railroad Company built the first bridge to cross the Genesee River Gorge in what would eventually become Letchworth State Park in Western New York, about 60 miles east of Buffalo. Claimed to be the world’s largest timber bridge, it served the rail line until it burned to the ground in May 1875. In June and Jul...
Final Thoughts: Spring Brings Baseball and Construction Seasons
Spring finally has arrived here in the Midwest (Chicago, to be specific): flowers are blooming, trees are budding out, birds are singing, and baseball is in full swing. But April 2018 was the fourth-coldest April on record; the Chicago Cubs home opening game on April 6th was postponed due to snow. Tulips are just now blooming, and the trees are a month behind in their growth. Another event that starts in the spring in our area is construction season: the time of year when a little more patien...
Letters from May/June 2018 Issue
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Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
