An Ethical Argument against the New Stillwater Bridge Design

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In the fall of this year a new bridge south of Stillwater Minnesota will begin construction to replace the aging 82 year old Stillwater Lift Bridge.  The plan is to make this new bridge an extradosed bridge, a cross between a standard girder and a suspension bridge, in order to reduce the impact on the areas scenery.  This would be only the 2^nd extradosed bridge built in this country following the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in Connecticut.   The extradosed design is meant to keep the bridge deck below the bluffs while minimizing the number of piers in the river thus, reducing the adverse affects on the areas scenery.  This bridge, while environmentally friendly, may have price issues as the bridge is estimated to cost 700 million dollars by comparison; the new I-35W Bridge cost just 234 million dollars.  It has also been said that these bridge types tend to cost more then the standard girder bridges that are more commonly seen in the United States.  So the question remains, are the costs of this bridge worth it in order to protect Stillwater’s scenery? Personally, I feel that the economic impact of this bridge along with the inexperience our civil engineers have in building extradosed bridges could compromise the safety of this project.   This design however was brought forth with good intentions that should be analyzed closely.

For environmental activists the old Stillwater Lift Bridge was seen as a scenic landmark that they needed to protect.  Thanks to there efforts the lift bridge will be turned into a pedestrian bridge following the construction of the new one which is to be located directly south.  It was this environmental activism that lead to the extradosed bridge design being proposed.  Minnesota state legislature decided that it would be best if the new bridge impacted the surrounding area as little as possible.  Therefore, contractors came up with the revolutionary extradosed bridge design in order to not only preserve the environment but to serve as one of Minnesota’a premier bridges.  However, at a cost of more then twice that of the new I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis coupled with a lack of experience we could be compromising our own safety just to preserve a pretty view.

Since this bridge brings with it a hefty price tag there will be pressure on the designers of this bridge to stay under budget.  Therefore, if costs turn out to be higher then anticipated safety features could be left out.   Furthermore, because of the fact that an extradosed bridge has never been built in the state of Minnesota before the designers will have very little experience working with this type of design.  This could lead to fatal errors in the design that would leave the bridge structurally deficient from the day it opens.  If this were to happen, years down the road we could see another collapse of a Minnesota bridge costing the state millions and taking with it several lives.  Therefore, I believe it would be in the best interest of the citizens of Minnesota if this bridge design were scrapped in favor of a cheaper and possibly safer standard girder bridge. 

Civil Engineer's Infrastructure Crisis

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Next month The American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) will release a new report card that will grade our nations infrastructure in several different categories and the results don’t sound promising.  In 2009 the ASCE’s report card gave the United State’s infrastructure an overall grade of D.  Multiple categories including drinking water, inland waterways, roads, levees and wastewater even received a D- and the highest scoring category, solid waste, only managed a C+.  Furthermore, an international infrastructure ranking was put together in 2011 that has the United States ranked in 23rd place.  That is a whole 6 spots behind Barbados and just 2 spots in front of Namibia, impressive huh?  All in all the previous ASCE report card estimated that 5 year investment of 2.2 trillion dollars needed to made in order to help our infrastructure turn the corner and I’m afraid now it may be more.

As the anticipation of the report grows civil engineers are beginning to wonder just how we are going to keep our nations infrastructure from falling apart.  With the government currently more concerned about fixing our economy and spending money on defense, funding for a total infrastructure reboot seems to be a distant dream.  If this issue keeps getting worse it could cause our public to lose faith in civil engineers.  If this were to happen then I believe we could see less people choosing to become civil engineers and thus have less people around to solve this great problem.

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However, the crumbling of our nations infrastructure will not just effect the engineers struggling to keep it standing it will also affect the average citizen. Civil engineers now fear that without more funding by 2020 our crumbling infrastructure could cost American families on average $3,100 per year.   Furthermore, an increased deterioration of our highway system will cause increased traffic, and higher shipping costs.  If drinking water systems are not improved then our population will see an increased risk in contamination of drinking water and maybe a shortage of it all together.  Lastly, if levees are not improved then we risk experiencing more devastating effects from natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

All in all the failing of our nations infrastructure is seen as the biggest issue facing our nations civil engineers.  There was once a time when the United States had an infrastructure that was second to none but time has worn it down and now it threatens the very fabric this nation is woven of.  When the report comes out in March the citizens of the United States will hopefully become more aware of the serious deficiencies our infrastructure withholds.  This awareness will hopefully bring about more funding that will help civil engineers save our infrastructure before it collapses all together.

A Review of the St. Anthony Falls Bridge

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On August 1, 2007 the state of Minnesota received a massive shock when the I-35W Bridge, a critical pipeline that connected the northern twin cities area to downtown Minneapolis, collapsed and fell into the Mississippi river.  The engineering community was stunned that a bridge operating inside its 50 year design life could catastrophically fail with almost zero warning.  The cause of the collapse turned out to be a fatal design flaw that caused the bridge to be structurally deficient from the day it opened.  In the wake of the disaster the state of the art St. Anthony Falls Bridge was built as a replacement in 2008.  Today this new bridge serves as a beacon of what modern day engineering is capable of displaying fascinating new technology, and safety measures all while being environmentally conscious.

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The collapse of the I-35W Bridge, while tragic, has ushered in a new era of safety regulations in regards to the design of today’s bridges and this is none more apparent then on the St. Anthony Falls Bridge.  The bridge contains 323 sensors that measure the conditions of the bridge at all times.  Furthermore, personnel at the University of Minnesota collect this data to determine if and when the bridge needs to be repaired essentially, this bridge can tell us when it needs to be fixed!  This added safety feature has ensured that if a problem does arise that it will be fixed before it can cause any harm.  Also, the bridge has also been constructed with high strength concrete and built in redundancies to allow for added strength without cranking up the cost of the bridge.  Together the high strength concrete, and redundancies have created an extremely sound structural design that is expected to last for at least 100 years, two times longer then that of the previous bridge.

While the bridge may be covered in a set of spectacular lights on the outside, as you can see below, it’s the ordinary looking lights that shine upon the roadbed that are helping reduce our use of energy.  

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The St. Anthony Falls Bridge was the first highway bridge in the United States to use LED lighting, which burn longer and use far less energy then conventional light bulbs, allowing this bridge to make a positive impact on the environment.  Also, the bridge contains two sculptures, one at each end, and while meant to be aesthetically pleasing there is more to them then meets the eye.  These two sculptures are actually made of a special type of photocatalytic concrete called TX Active.  This means the concrete sculptures are actually able to absorb sunlight and pull harmful carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrous oxide out of the air.  While this may only make a small impact on the environment this bridge is showing the people the amazing types of green technology that are out there and ready to be used regularly in the near future.

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In conclusion, I see this as a structurally sound, environmentally conscious, and aesthetically pleasing bridge.  This bridge is not just safe to drive on but I actually recommend you drive over it next time you’re in the twin cities just to check it out.  In the end this may not a just be a bridge it may be a glimpse into what we could see in the near future. 

 


 


 

Civil Engineering in a Nutshell

In the vast landscape of engineering disciplines there is one field of practice that, while somewhat ambiguous and difficult to define, serves as the backbone to the America we all know and love today.  This discipline is civil engineering and while it may be very broad everyone involved will tell you that it all boils down to infrastructure.  Whether it’s highways, skyscrapers, airports, or a simple sidewalk our nation’s infrastructure gives us a place to go and a way to get there.  Therefore, civil engineers around the country design and maintain bridges, highways, dams, water plants, buildings, and much more in order to ensure everybody’s daily lives operate smoothly.

 Civil engineering itself is split up into multiple sub-disciplines, which include structures, water resources, geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering, and transportation.  While sometimes very different in nature there are very few projects that don’t involve two or more of these disciplines working together to produce a quality design.

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Structural engineers design the buildings you see everyday, which includes everything from simple homes to 100 story skyscrapers.  These buildings give people places to live, work, and enjoy themselves.

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 Those involved in water resources are generally working with water treatment plants.  Engineers in this field must figure out a way to disperse clean water to thousands and sometimes millions of people that depend on it.

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 Geotechnical engineers attempt to find new ways to use soil as an aid in building structures.  They often compact and smoothen out weak or rough soil so that buildings may be built on it.  This form of engineering is very important in the Fargo-Moorhead area because the soil we live on here is extremely weak and unable to support large structures.

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Environmental engineers work on keeping this a planet a much cleaner place.  Engineers in this field may be working on restoring hazardous areas or advising engineers working on other projects on how their design can be tweaked in order to make as little impact as possible on the existing area.

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Lastly, those involved in transportation engineering design the systems that allow us to get around.  These engineers must design their roads to accommodate a growing population and must make sure that the roads and highways they’ve designed are maintained properly throughout their lifetime.

As stated previously these fields all must work together in order to ensure our infrastructure is up to date.  For example, due to the nature of the soil in the red river valley structural engineers must consult geotechnical engineers when working on large projects in the Fargo-Moorhead area.  Otherwise large buildings, such as the Fargo dome, would simply sink into the dirt and become utterly useless.  Although civil engineers may be defined by what they create they’re also known for being a different breed of human all their own.

While many people assume that all engineers like to sit behind their desk all day and work with the complexities of their next big design that is actually far from the truth.  Most civil engineers will tell you that the best part about their job is working outside and often times their interests reflect that.  While studying civil engineering at North Dakota State University I have noticed that several of my fellow classmates enjoy activities such as hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, ATVing and any physical activity that gets them out an about.  I personally like to spend a large portion of my week going for long runs and I also enjoy water skiing and fishing at my cabin during the summer months.  I believe that, along with our love for math and science, it is this drive to be outside as much as possible that pushes towards a career in civil engineering.

So in conclusion, civil engineers work on a variety of projects that all in some way deal with the validity of our nation’s infrastructure.  The discipline is also divided into several sub-disciplines that all must work together in order to produce quality systems that are vital to our peoples well-being and that a desire to be outdoors is what pushed many civil engineers to become what they are today.  I hope this has been valuable and insightful information and hopefully it has answered many questions you have had about who civil engineers are and what it is that they do.

Click one of the links for more information on the sub-fields of Civil Engineering.

Structural Engineering

Water Resources Engineering

Geotechnical Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Transportation Engineering