Photo: AP/WideWorld Seismic experts credit the development and enforcement of seismic provisions of national building codes with dramatically reducing the impact of the most damaging earthquake to hit New Zealand in nearly 70 years. The magnitude-7.1 temblor that struck Christchurch, the second- largest city, at 4:36 a.m. on Sept. 4 caused no significant damage to major buildings. Low-rise unreinforced masonry buildings, not engineered to resist quakes, sustained the most extensive damage. Water and sewer lines bedded in soft alluvium were stressed and pipe-joint displacement occurred, disrupting service. By nightfall, two-thirds of the city had water.

An inadvertent meeting of the minds during planning for a 484,000-sq-ft hospital in Dayton, Ohio, turned into an effort that has propelled multitrade prefabrication of hospital components to a new level. In the most ambitious U.S. implementation of the strategy, the construction manager estimates that prefabbing the 178 identical patient rooms and 120 overhead corridor utility racks sliced more than two months from construction and 1% to 2% off the cost of the $152-million building, which is 90% complete. The first effort is seen as just a beginning. “I want to change the design of hospitals with this process,” says

Enforcement of seismic provisions in the nation's building codes is credited with dramatically reducing the impact of the most damaging earthquake to hit New Zealand for nearly 70 years. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city, at 4.36 a.m. on Sept. 4, causing extensive damage to unreinforced masonry buildings, not engineered to resist sesimic loads, but no significant damage to major buildings. Investment in seismic retrofits appears to have saved some of Christchurch's most important historic buildings, including the Anglican Cathedral in the city's center and the Catholic Basilica. The major message from the earthquake is

Work is under way on a $571-million upgrade to a mountainous, five-mile stretch of Interstate 90 - Washington’s busiest east-west connector. Located miles from Seattle, the scenic highway, which is part of Snoqualmie Pass, weaves through the Cascade Range. The Washington State Dept. of Transportation’s comprehensive plan calls for widening the road from four lanes to six, repaving it with freeze- and thaw-resistant concrete, straightening curves, stabilizing rock slopes, and adding a chain-up area and 1,200-ft.-long snowshed. Moreover, WSDOT will add or replace four bridges and build four new ones bridges and culverts in an effort to improve fish and

Barnard Construction Co. , Bozeman, Mont., won a $26.9-million contract from the National Park Service to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River in Washington State’s Olympic National Park. The firm’s bid was $13 million less than the engineer’s estimate. Site construction is set to start in September, with actual dismantling a year later. “With award of this contract, we begin the countdown to the largest dam removal and one of the largest restoration projects in U.S. history,” says Karen Gustin, park superintendent. The contract includes removal of the 108-ft-high Elwha Dam, completed in 1913, and

Tidal power in the U.S. moved toward commercial viability this summer when Portland, Maine-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. successfully produced electric power from a tidal turbine it installed in Cobscook Bay in Eastport, Maine. The tidal turbine was designed with assistance from the University of Maine and a Maine-based fabricator. Tidal power should be more viable in Maine than Arizona, where solar power has a bright future. “I would say that it’s an important step forward,” says Paul Jacobsen, ocean energy leader for the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, Calif., an organization that conducts electric research and development. It’s

Making the U.S. energy-independent and overhauling outmoded transportation infrastructure are the two key engineering challenges to be faced in the next decade, say nearly 60% of 323 design-firm CEOs in a survey released on Aug. 30 by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), Washington, D.C. Fewer respondents noted needed upgrades of infrastructure for water-wastewater treatment and flood control, cyber-security, sustainable building and electrical grids as challenges through 2020. Responding CEOs were among 2,000 leaders of ACEC member companies contacted for the survey. More than 80% of the respondents say they run companies with 200 or fewer employees. Almost 30%

Hoping to attract cargo traffic from an expanded Panama Canal in 2014, the Port of Miami is taking steps to refurbish a dormant 4.4-mile rail corridor linking the port with the Hialeah Intermodal Railyard, operated by the Florida East Coast Railroad. The Port, FECR and the Florida Dept. of Transportation are collaborating on the $46.9-million project, which is still contingent on receiving a $28-million so-called TIGER grant (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. If approved, the two-year project would restore a one-track rail link that has been out of service for several years, due

A new isolated bearing system designed to preserve the alignment of critical bridge structures while saving millions in construction costs may make its debut on a high-speed-rail project in Turkey. It has been proposed for California’s planned high-speed-rail system as well. Photo: Courtesy of EPS A new isolation system, tested successfully in California this spring, may be used on two Turkish bridges. CCCI Consortium—a design-build partnership of the China Railway Construction Corp., the China National Machinery Import & Export Corp., Istanbul-based Cengiz Insaat and Ankara-based IC Ictas Insaat—plans to include a segmental displaced control isolation system manufactured by Vallejo, Calif.-based

The state-owned rail companies of Botswana and Mozambique are preparing to build an estimated $7-billion transport project that would include one of Africa’s longest railways and a deepwater port on the Indian Ocean, south of Maputo. A recent agreement between the two governments calls for the scheme to include private financing, but backing has not yet been secured. Photo: Wikipedia The Beira port facility in Mozambique would be supported by a new deepwater port to handle larger ships. Photo: Courtesy of CFM Congestion at the port and railway complex at Maputo, Mozambique, will be alleviated by a new rail system.