Monuments of the Millennium: Civil Engineering Achievements Around the World

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Monuments of the MillenniumCivil Engineering
Achievements Around the World

• Dr. Lisa Spainhour
• Dept. of Civil and Environmental Eng.
• FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

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Civil Engineering Achievements of the Millennium

• Airport Design and Development
• Dams
• Interstate Highway System
• Long-Span Bridges
• Rail Transportation
• Sanitary Landfills

• Skyscrapers
• Wastewater Treatment
• Water Supply and Distribution
• Water Transportation

As voted by ASCE members
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Civil Engineering Monuments of the Millennium

• Large-scale engineering projects, notable for
• Complexity, innovative techniques, engineering
  achievements
• Benefit to public (health, safety, commerce,
  etc.)
• One monument selected to represent each
  achievement

As determined by ASCE
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Airport Design and Development

• Kansai International Airport
• In Osaka Bay, Japan
• Opened Sept. 1994
• 25 mill. passengers/day
• Functions 24 hours/day without violating noise
  regulations

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Dams

• Hoover Dam
• Competed in 1935
• Electricity for 1.3 million
• Irrigation for 1.5 million acres
• Named Modern CE Wonder of the World in 1955

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Interstate Highway System

• Established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
• 42,800 miles of limited access road
• Based on Pennsylvania Turnpike (1940)
• Carries 20 of nations traffic
• Estimated to have saved 6 for every 1 spent

Modern Interstate highway
Capital Beltway, mid-1960s
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Long-Span Bridges

• Golden Gate Bridge
• Took 17 years to plan and 4 years to build
• Opened in 1937
• Main span is 4200 ft.
• Uses enough cable to circle the earth 3 times

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Rail Transportation

• Eurotunnel Rail System
• Three 5-thick concrete tunnels
• Third tube for emergency and maintenance vehicles
• 14-wide double decker trains carry cars buses
• Cold water pipes remove friction heat from tracks
  

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Sanitary Landfills/Solid Waste Disposal

• As countries urbanized, rural waste disposal
  practices led to problems
• Odor
• Rodents
• Public health problems
• Sanitary landfills first used in 1930s or 1940s
  to dispose of waste

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Skyscrapers

• Empire State Building
• Completed in 1931
• Built in 1 year, 45 days
• 1250 feet tall
• Tallest building in world for more than 40 years
• In 1800s, buildings mostly 16 stories or less
• Bearing walls too thick
• Lack of elevators, HVAC systems

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Wastewater Treatment

• Chicago Wastewater System
• In 1885, a cholera/typhoid epidemic kills 90,000
  when a storm washes sewage into Lake Michigan
• In 1900, engineers reverse flow of Chicago river,
  digging a 28 mile channel to Des Plaines River

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Water Supply and Distribution

• California Water Project
• A system of aqueducts, dams, reservoirs, and
  plants
• Meets water resources needs of 2/3 of
  Californias population
• Includes 660 miles of open canals pipelines, 32
  reservoirs, 17 pumping plants, 3 generating plants

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Water Transportation

• Panama Canal
• Began by French in 1875
• Continued by US in 1890
• Completed in 1914
• 50 miles long, from Atlantic (NW) to Pacific (SE)
• Takes 8-10 hours to traverse
• Saves 8000 miles of travel around South America

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Summary/Questions

• Do these monuments truly cover the millennium?
• What other Achievements of the Millennium would
  you designate?
• What alternate Monuments of the Millennium
  would you designate?
• Have CEs introduced new problems with these
  solutions? How are these being addressed?
• What would our world be like today without the
  contributions of Civil Engineers?
• What future contributions will Civil Engineers
  make?