Getting Geotechnical: The Making, Shaking and Remaking of San Francisco’s Treasure Island
Treasure Island is a 400-acre artificial island in San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Bay’s Treasure Island—a flat, 400-acre, rather headstone-shaped island—is entirely artificial, “… constructed by emplacing 260,000 tons of quarried rock in the shoals for the island/causeway perimeter rock walls (a freshwater reservoir was quarried in the rock of Yerba Buena Island). Approximately 23 feet of dredged bay sand filled the interior, was mitigated from salt, and then 50,000 cubic yards of topsoil...
Natural Wonders: Safety, Accessibility and Aesthetics Shape Pedestrian Suspension Bridges
By Sean O’Keefe There’s something wonderful about a walk in the woods: the nearness of nature, the wind rustling through trees, the magical light almost any time of day, and never knowing what’s around the next bend. For Gus Smithhisler, P.E., it’s an adventure that never gets old. Smithhisler is a Natural Resources Engineer for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), where he has worked since graduating from Ohio State University in 1994 with a degree in Civil Engineering. ODNR...
Data Centers: Provide Unique Circumstances and Challenges for Stormwater Detention
By Carol Brzozowski This article is based on a webcam interview recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can view a video of the full interview at the top of this page or by visiting bit.ly/3FxF3o4 E-commerce is fueling a need for data centers and warehouses that require massive stormwater treatment systems; and designing, manufacturing and installing these systems can require a different approach from other types of structures. Site sec...
Emerging Cyber-Solutions Are Updating Urban Infrastructure
By Gordon Feller Cities are working hard to adopt state-of-the-art technologies. Several forces are driving them to embrace emerging innovations: agencies are working on interconnected problems; increasingly diverse communities are pushing governments to meet their needs; and government operations are becoming more complex, working daily with massive datasets. As a result, municipalities have concluded that they must have reliable, next-generation connectivity. With the right infrastructur...
The Very Model of Modern Major Terminal: Kansas City Replaces Three Outdated Terminals with a Cutting-Edge Jewel
Credit: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) Kansas City International Airport (MCI) has its origin in the “Great Flood of 1951,” which more or less destroyed the facilities of Mid-Continent Airlines and Trans World Airlines (TWA) at Fairfax Airport as well as damaging Kansas City Municipal Airport. The city already was planning to build a larger airport, and the catastrophe, of course, lent greater urgency to these plans. Ground was broken north of Kansas City in 1954, and the new airport’s f...
You Can’t Build a Healthy Economy on Crumbling Infrastructure
On Feb. 10, 2022, Informed Infrastructure Editorial Director Todd Danielson interviewed Maria Lehman, president-elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and director of U.S. Infrastructure for GHD US. Maria Lehman,P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCEDirector of U.S.Infrastructure for GHD USPresident-Elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) ASCE has 150,000 members in 177 countries and is the largest publisher of civil engineering materials, including conferences and other for...
Propelling Wind Power Surveying with Drones
With 5G-connected drones and edge computing, dozens of towers can be inspected simultaneously. By Donavon Graves There are more than 52,000 utility-scale wind turbines across the nation that require ongoing maintenance, and total wind power capacity is expected to grow 62 percent by 2024. With the cost of a new wind turbine blade running nearly $1 million, it’s imperative to keep turbines functioning at peak capacity to maximize their lifespan. GE Renewable Energy’s “Stay Ashore!” program...
GIS Solutions: New AEC Industry Report on GIS and BIM Integration
Download the GIS Solution
Erosion Control Primer: Stay in Harmony with Nature
(Credit: Dropshots) The natural environment exists in a state of slow, but steady, change, and the same forces that shape the earth inevitably impact any infrastructure built on it. In earth science, erosion results from surface processes that move soil, rock and dissolved material from one place to another. Although erosion is a natural occurrence existing wherever soil conditions and climatic instigators collide, frequently the built environment is a compounding force that accelerates the...
One Hundred Above the Park: A New St. Louis Landmark
One Hundred Above the Park’s architecture has made it one of the most notable buildings in St. Louis, with views of Forest Park to the west and the Gateway Arch to the east. (Sam Fentress, courtesy of Clayco) Rising 36 stories above the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, a strikingly modern apartment tower called One Hundred Above the Park has become the city’s newest landmark. Completed in 2020 and designed by Studio Gang (www.studiogang.com), an internationally acclai...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
