The beauty of the Web is its ability to build an audience for significant presentations, even after an event has ended. A June 8 panel discussion at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., on the state of seismic building codes, couched in presentations of lessons learned from recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, is a fine example. Photo By Tom Sawyer, Enr. In Haiti, building codes are often inadequate or ignored. Related Links: Building Codes Shakedown: Designing for Disaster The presentations—by David Applegate, senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey; Michael J. Armstrong,

President Obama has named Michael R. Bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and Justice Dept. Inspector General, to oversee a restructuring of the Interior Dept.'s Minerals Management Service. In the wake of the Gulf oil spill, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans on May 19 to split MMS into three divisions, separating regulatory functions from the job of collecting royalties from oil drilling. Bromwich, whose appointment was announced on June 15, will be in charge of developing the new structure. The White House said he "has a mandate to implement far-reaching change" at the agency. Bromwich, a partner with the law

Construction began in May on a new headquarters complex for the European Central Bank in Frankfurt’s Ostend district, flanking the Main River. Designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au, based in Vienna, the energy-efficient design includes a geothermal heating system. Gassmann + Grossmann Baumanagement GmbH is the construction manager on the project. It is expected to be completed by 2014, at a cost of $1.05 billion. The 12-hectare site was formerly home to the Grossmarkthalle, the city’s wholesale produce market; the 12,500-sq-meter market building is being restored and incorporated as part of the bank complex. The complex’s centerpiece will be two towers linked

Canada-based SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a $625-million engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract to build a grassroots sulphuric-phosphoric acid complex in Eshidya Jordan. The project owner, JIFCO, is a joint venture owned by Jordanian Phosphate Mines Co. and the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. JPMC is a producer of phosphoric acid and fertilizer, and IFFCO is the largest fertilizer producer and distributor cooperative in India. SNC-Lavalin will provide project management, design, equipment and construction management. The complex will have a capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year of phosphoric acid. It will also include a single-line sulphuric acid plant with

Vancouver, B.C., residents better not fall too deeply in love with the 27,500-seat Empire Field, which is on course for a June 20 completion. The stadium, built to host the Canadian Football League’s BC Lions while the team’s current home, BC Place, is under renovation, will only exist in its current form until November of next year. Then, like recyclable scaffolding, North America’s first-known temporary stadium for professional football—constructed from some 15,000 parts shipped from Switzerland in 70 containers—will be dismantled and shipped home, where it will be reincarnated as another temporary sports facility. Courtesy of BC Pavilion Corp In

The American Institute of Architects has released an Excel-based tool that generates a report on predicted energy use and project modeling. The tool, called the 2030 Commitment Annual Progress Reporting Tool, is part of the group's push to get its members to design carbon-neutral buildings and practice architecture in a more sustainable way. Although the tool was designed for architecture firms only, it is being tweaked for use by structural engineers. AIA released the tool at its 2010 convention in Miami. To date 105 architects have signed on to the AIA's voluntary 2030 commitment program, said Kelly Pickard, AIA's project

A 98-year-old, accident-prone southeast Texas bridge is being upgraded following a long and bumpy bidding process. The U.S. Coast Guard declared the rolling-lift single-leaf bascule causeway bridge connecting Galveston Island with Texas a navigational hazard in 2001. Old bascule bridge was subjected to repeated barge collisions. The 108-ft-wide bridge often is struck by barges, costing more than $2 million in repairs each year, says Raymond Butler, Gulf Coast Intracoastal Canal Association�s former executive director. A new structure�designed by Galveston County with Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based Modjeski and Masters�triples the clearance width. Bids came in higher than expected in October, resulting in value-engineering

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has pledged to work with an influential industry group to encourage more girls and young women to embark on transportation careers. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood last month signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with the Women’s Transportation Seminar International last month in Washington D.C., noting the need in particular for environmental engineers is expected to rise by 30% over the next decade. Photo: WTS LaHood’s team advocates women’s transportation careers. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The MOC was the brainchild of WTS President Elaine Dezenski. Members met with the U.S. DOT in April. “Lightbulbs

A massive effort to revamp the American air-traffic-control system from land-based to satellite-based equipment, dubbed NextGen, could result in greater flight efficiency and fuel cost savings at all major hubs by 2014, says Randolph Babbitt, Federal Aviation Administration chief. He also stressed the need for the next generation of land-side and air-side infrastructure. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Babbitt urged members of the American Association of Airport Executives last month in Dallas to work toward implementing multimodalism. “We have to advance our infrastructure to NextGen standards,” he said. “It’s the only way to keep pace with the rest of

The Washington State Dept. of Transportation is creating a list of best construction practices for floating bridges, based on results of tests conducted on a pontoon built at one-sixth the typical size. The best practices will be used by the design-build team that won the contract to build new pontoons for the state Route 520 Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. At 2,285 meters, SR 520�s bridge is the longest of its kind in the world. Photo: WSDOT Engineers run curing tests on a scale-model pontoon at a yard near Olympia, Wash., in an attempt to minimize cracks. Photo: WSDOT WSDOT and