Photo by JR Long for ENR Tuned mass rail dampers (above) use steel and rubber plates to reduce vibration. Crews install precast concrete panels at rail crossings (below). Photo Courtesy Sacramento RT Related Links: $1.5-Billion Light Rail Line Takes Shape In LA The 10 Longest Urban Metro Transit Systems in the World Tight space constraints along a 4.3-mile light-rail expansion for the Sacramento Regional Transit District, or Sacramento RT, required engineers to modify plans and adopt new rail-damping technology to reduce noise in residential areas.And crews with joint-venture contractor Balfour Beatty and Teichart must meet a strict time line to
The landmark Herbst Theatre in San Francisco's War Memorial Veterans Building will look much the same when theatergoers return in September—if all goes according to plan.
Twin earth-pressure-balance tunnel-boring machines Mom Chung and Big Alma emerged into a water-filled retrieval pit in the heart of San Francisco in June, having raised the bar for cutting through variable soils without affecting existing infrastructure.
photo courtesy of melina harris Australian tradeswomen are pushing to grow their ranks, which number only about 5,000 nationally. Related Links: Tradeswomen Inc. Website Union Tradeswomen Are Urged to 'Lean In' at Big Gathering Skilled Trades Are Tough To Crack; Women Fight To Gain Ground Concerned that retirements are cutting into their existing ranks even as they struggle to expand them, women in union craft careers convened in Sacramento last month to show solidarity and trade insights on coping with workplace challenges.The record turnout of 875 attendees at this year's "Women Building California and the Nation" conference also included union
A record 650 union tradeswomen attending the annual "Women Building California and the Nation" conference earlier this month were urged to take a cue from top Facebook executive Sheryl Sandburg and "lean in" to become leaders at jobsites, union halls and in their communities. Photo Courtesy of Women Building California and the Nation Attendees got motivation from AFL-CIO executive Liz Shuler. Photo Courtesy of Women Building California and the Nation Craft workers look to network and boost their clout at meeting in California. Related Links: Union Carpenter Connects, Fuels Support for Tradeswomen Around the World The Sacramento, Calif., conference, co-sponsored
Photo Courtesy of Women Building California and the Nation Craft workers looking to network and boost their clout at meeting in California. Photo Courtesy of Women Building California and the Nation Attendees got motivation from AFL-CIO executive Liz Shuler. Related Links: Union Carpenter Connects, Fuels Support for Tradeswomen Around the World Arecord 650 union tradeswomen attending the annual "Women Building California and the Nation" conference earlier this month were urged to take a cue from top Facebook executive Sheryl Sandburg and "lean in" to become leaders at jobsites, union halls and in their communities.The Sacramento, Calif., conference, co-sponsored by the
The results of recent field trials of rechargeable community solar lighting kits for isolated villages now are being analyzed to help researchers in New York City turn their inventions into a sustainable business plan. Photo: Courtesy of the SociaLite Project Charging station does 13 LED lamps at once. The lighting kits contain the electronics to build 80 lanterns, but the rest of the materials are locally sourced. Lamp bases are made from used cans, gourds or sections of bamboo. Translucent plastic juice bottles provide the diffusers. “This is changing people’s lives,” says Toby Cumberbatch, a professor at the Cooper Union
Regular readers of Engineering News-Record are familiar with the big names in the construction industry that lead off our annual “Top” lists of firms ranked by revenue.
Devices to harvest kinetic energy from the briny waste stream of seawater desalinization plants are to be used for the first time at an industrial scale in two plants now being built in Spain. Image: Courtesy Of Energy Recovery Inc. A kinetic energy exchanger (lower right) recaptures water-pressure energy in the outflow stream and transfers it back into the raw-water stream. Pressure-exchange devices supplied by Energy Recovery Inc., San Leandro, Calif., are to be installed in reverse-osmosis plants being built by Spain’s Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs at the Mediterranean coastal cities of Moncofa and Oropesa. Together,
A draft California Public Health Goal could lead to a requirement for California water agencies to reduce hexavent chromium to the ultra-low level of 0.02 parts per billion. The naturally occurring suspected carcinogen is present in as much as a third of the state’s groundwater supply. The federal government currently only regulates total chromium levels at 100 parts per billion. The draft goal, released in December 2010, was reduced from a previously suggested 0.06 parts per billion “to account for increased sensitivity associated with early-in-life exposures,” according to a state study. The California Dept. of Public Health could set drinking-water
