The Evolution of Hydrodemolition To Extend the Life of Concrete Structures
With increased demand to bring hydrodemolition to more applications, manufacturers engineer today’s machines to specialize in a wide range of concrete removal and repair jobs.In the early 1980s, the Swedish National Road Administration (SNRA) had a problem. The conventional way to repair a bridge was to remove concrete with jackhammers, but core samples on those projects revealed microcracks in the original parts of the structures. And, as it turned out, the consequences of those tiny cracks wer...
New Walmart Campus Integrates Growing Community
The North Lake, one of two lakes on the Walmart Home Office campus, was engineered to store and manage stormwater. The design of the lakes allows for the controlled release of developed flow from the campus, prevents downstream flooding and minimizes the impact on two nearby creeks. (©Charles Yeager)The future looks bright for the city of Bentonville, Ark., following the new Walmart Home Office campus opening in spring 2025. The 355-acre open campus was designed to meet Walmart’s vision to provi...
Data Center Erosion Control: Hydraulically Applied Products Bring Solutions to Large-Footprint Problem
While history may be a haunting reminder of past mistakes, it paints a picture of consistency when focusing on technology. As the world continues to evolve and we, as a society, move into the future, technology continues to expand and grow.The latest hotbed of technological growth can be seen popping up in multiple areas domestically and internationally: the massive construction projects known as data centers. At the foundation of these construction wonders lie taxing demands made upon erosion c...
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How To Invest Best in Bridge and Road Infrastructure
Autonomous flying laser scanners capture structures and environments to create 3D point clouds while flying, allowing for the scanning of hard-to-reach places while offering a lightweight, easy-to-use experience. The Leica BLK2FLY uses omnidirectional radar and LiDAR to avoid obstacles for accurate, uninterrupted and safe scanning. The March 2024 collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after a cargo ship crashed into it might be a turning point in how the country looks at its infrastru...
Relief in Sight: South Florida’s Long-Awaited I-95/SW 10th Street Connector
This FDOT District Four project will enhance the safety and efficiency of the SW 10th Street and I-95 corridors as well as deliver congestion relief. (WSP in the U.S. rendering) For the team rebuilding the frustratingly congested Interstate 95 (I-95)/SW 10th Street corridor in Deerfield Beach, Fla., this is more than just another job: it’s definitely personal. “We all have encountered heavy traffic along this highway, and for some of us it’s a daily nuisance,” explains Santos Val...
Analyzing FRP’s Cost and Success in the Egyptian Theater Seismic-Retrofit Project
The Egyptian Theater was built in 1922, and its retrofit hoped to preserve as much of its history and aesthetic as possible while making it safe for a seismic event. The design-build field has continued to evolve and, as a result, various methods prove available to help engineers develop solutions to meet critical design criteria in an economically viable fashion. If the cost to produce the solution exceeds the budget, the engineer returns to the proverbial drawing board. A wave of inter...
World’s Largest Wildlife Crossing Nears Completion in Southern California
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will span U.S. Highway 101 to connect the Santa Monica Mountains along the Pacific Ocean with the Sierra Madre Range to the north. (Rock Design Associates and National Wildlife Federation) The largest wildlife crossing in the world completed its first phase in June 2025, paving the way for restored ecosystem connectivity in the Los Angeles area. Sited among challenging terrain and over one of the busiest highways in the country, the Wallis Annenberg Wi...
When Routine Maintenance Finds Major Problems: Charleston Water System Turns Near Disaster into Opportunity
Because each half of the foldable isolation plug assembly weighed about 900 pounds, designers ended up installing manual cranks that could be used by divers when assembling. This photo was taken at the Petersen Products yard, where the dive team worked with designers to troubleshoot assembly procedure The Charleston Water System (CWS) Hanahan Water Treatment Plant set out to perform a normally routine maintenance task—take one 5-million-gallon clearwell (an approximately 220-foot-diameter b...
Engineering Continuity: The EOR’s Role in Structural Steel Solutions for Historic and Architecturally Complex Renovations
A 3D model of the Pepco Mt. Vernon substation in Washington, D.C. (Extreme Steel Inc.) Historic renovations and architecturally ambitious retrofits walk a fine line between preservation and modernization. Whether it’s an adaptive reuse of a century-old mill or a new cultural landmark embedded in a dense urban grid, the challenges go far beyond aesthetics. Structural performance, code compliance, constructability and integration with existing materials all converge, requiring both technical...
A Glass Seawall in Florida Balances Function with Aesthetics
Venice, Fla., reconstructed its seawall using a glass floodwall. (City of Venice) Florida’s Gulf Coast is beloved by its residents and visitors, but its attractive shoreline can take a beating from severe weather events. In Venice, Fla., an existing seawall had reached the end of its useful life and needed to be replaced. During very high tides and large storms, water would overtop the seawall and flood the adjacent roadway, notes Christopher F. Kuzler, P.E., managing principal/d...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
