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Quincy and Milton, Massachusetts
Completed 1826
"I finally received a charter [to build the railway], although there was great opposition in the House. The questions were asked, 'What do we know about railroads? Who ever heard of such a thing? Is it right to take people's land for a project that no one knows anything about?' Such and similar objections were made and onerous restrictions were imposed, but it finally passed by a small majority only."
- Gridley Bryant, 1871
The Granite Railway Company of Quincy was the first commercial railway in the United States. Incorporated in 1826 and designed by Gridley Bryant, the railway relied on horses, rather than steam locomotives, to draw the cars along the tracks. Its primary purpose was to transport granite from Quincy to build the Bunker Hill Monument.
A section of the railway called the Incline was added in 1830 to haul granite from the Pine Ledge quarry to the railway level 84 feet below. Cars moved up and down the 315-foot incline, controlled by an endless conveyor belt-type chain. The Incline continued to operate until the 1940s.
The four-mile railway introduced a variety of rail system innovations, including switches, the turntable, and double-truck railway cars. This primitive railway helped inaugurate the great era of American railroad building.
Facts
- This innovative use of rails met with considerable skepticism as canals were then considered the optimum mode of transportation.
The project began on April 1 and was completed by October 7, a mere six months.
- Bryant designed a swing platform to receive loaded cars at the base of the inclined plane. The platform was balanced by weights and used gears to dump loads and return the vehicles to a horizontal position.
- To construct the road, stone sleepers were laid across the roadbed, eight feet apart. Six-inch-thick wooden rails were placed over the sleepers, then iron plates were fastened to the rails with spikes.
For more information on civil engineering history, go to www.asce.org/history.
Kittery to Portland, Maine
Completed 1947
Maine's heavy snows led turnpike maintenance personnel to bring "left-handed" snow plows into prominence. By using left-handed and traditional right-handed plows in tandem, they were able to distribute snow more evenly - an important advance that has been emulated by many highway maintenance crews across the country.
In a state known for conservatism and tradition, Maine broke the mold in 1947 with the completion of the nation's second superhighway, the Maine Turnpike. Years before the Interstate Highway system, Maine set the standard for safety, efficiency and economy in highway construction, giving many motorists their first taste of driving at 60 mph - a mile a minute.
The first U.S. highway to be completely self-financed, the project broadened the purview of civil engineers, requiring them to consider revenue projections in addition to safety, cost and other design factors. Initial construction was funded through $20 million in revenue bonds that were repaid from motorists' tolls. To this day, the turnpike's construction, expansion, operation, and maintenance have not cost taxpayers, the state or the federal government a dime.
Facts
- The Maine Turnpike is one of the few remaining toll roads to generate all of its own operating capital, independent of any state highway department funding.
The turnpike turned Maine into a major vacation destination. Today, 55 percent of tolls are paid by out-of-state travelers. The state's tourism revenues total $3 billion a year.
- Traffic has grown from 2,500 vehicles a day to 122,000, a 49-fold increase in just over 50 years. Over 12,000 trucks use the highway daily, carrying 90 percent of Maine's freight.
- In keeping with turnpike traditions of economic and environmental savings, 1.4 million old tires were put to use as fill for embankments on a recently completed interchange, reducing construction costs by $250,000 and avoiding the disposal of 13,000 tons of tires.
For more information on civil engineering history, go to www.asce.org/history.
These are large polystyrene blocks used as lightweight fill in the construction/civil engineering industry
The Kirkintilloch Foundry was established in the 1830s by Archibald Gilchrist and closed in the 1890s.
Comments always appreciated, as long as you keep it clean - I love to hear your feedback! xx
I went for a visit to Derby for their comedy festival and to spend the weekend with Gemma.
Saturday morning we went to Belper to the river gardens and the horseshoe weir, which is an incredible piece of civil engineering!
The gardens are lovely and tranquil. It was a great little alternative to our usual trip to Dovedale - which we called off because the weather wasn't great.
Had a lovely morning though!
Williams has been promoting domestic hunger awareness, a cause that was close to her heart since long before wearing the crown
Durango to Silverton, Colorado
Completed 1882
"It was an era of boisterous expansion, and a spirit of heady optimism infused the developing nation. The train gave Americans a taste of freedom and mobility that had never been known."
- Robert Royem An American Classic: The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad extends from the town of Durango to the mining camp of Silverton. Built in 1882 through one of the most rugged mountain areas of the nation, its complexity remains a testament to the role civil engineering played in the development of the western United States.
The tracks rise up the sheer, steep Animas Canyon, running along a rock ledge just wide enough to carry the train. The line is used today as a tourist attraction, carrying visitors through the picturesque San Juan Mountains.
The 45-mile line was constructed in just over nine months at a cost of $917,303. The first steel rails produced in Colorado were used in construction of this line.
Facts
- Silverton sits at an elevation of 9,300 feet.
- The railway's maximum grade is 2.5 percent. In such rugged terrain, this relatively modest project was a significant surveying and construction accomplishment.
- The 500 laborers who built the railway were primarily Irish and Chinese immigrants.
Laborers lived in rail cars provided by the D& R Western Railroad, though some chose to make their homes in nearby caves. The average daily pay was $2.25.
Resources
- Royem, Robert, An American Classic: The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, 1995, Limelight Press.
For more information on civil engineering history, go to www.asce.org/history.
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
Completed 1870
With the exception of Nantucket shoals, it is supposed there is no part of the American coast where vessels are more exposed to shipwreck than they are in passing along the shores of North Carolina...
- Report to Congress, 1806
The Atlantic Ocean's northward-flowing Gulf Stream meets the southward-flowing Labrador Current at a point marked approximately by North Carolina's Outer Banks. Since the earliest days of United States commerce, shifting tides, inclement weather, treacherous shoals, and a low-lying shoreline there contributed to what soon became known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Warning sailors of this danger quickly became a top priority in the integrated system of navigational aids provided by the federal government to promote safe passage along the Atlantic Coast.
The first lighthouse on the Outer Banks at Cape Hatteras was built in 1802 and measured 95 feet in height. It was replaced in 1851 by a 150-foot structure fitted with a Fresnel lens. In 1868, responding to complaints that low-lying fog often obscured the beam, Congress authorized funds for the present structure. Boldly striped and rising to a height of 208 feet, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse remains the tallest lighthouse in the U.S. and an enduring symbol of America's close relationship with the sea.
Facts
The lighthouse tower, of double-wall construction, was built from approximately 1.25 million bricks manufactured at a kiln on the James River near Richmond, Virginia.
The spiral bands of alternating black and white -- two black and two white, each circling the tower one-and-a-half times -- were applied in 1873 to better distinguish the tower as a "daymark."
A thorough restoration of the lighthouse -- carried out at a cost of nearly $1 million -- was completed in 1992.
In 1999, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved a half-mile inland to protect it from encroaching shoreline erosion; the complex project, carried out by the National Park Service, relied on experts from 22 disciplines and was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement of the year.
Resources
- Anne Elizabeth Powell, "Back from the Brink"; Civil Engineering, October 1999, pp.52-57.
- F. Ross Holland, Great American Lighthouses; New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994, ISBN 0-471-14387-1
- Kenneth G. Kochel, America's Atlantic Coast Lighthouses: A Traveler's Guide; Clearwater, FL: Kenneth Kochel Publishing, Third Edition, 1998, ISBN 0-9640765-3-5
For more information on civil engineering history, go to www.asce.org/history.
Storm drain plan & profile "A" for the CapMetro rail station located at M.L.K. in Austin, TX.
(COA Case #SP-2007-0409C). Circa 2008.
Clackmanannshire bridge overlooking the island and mud flats created during construction of the bridge, taken form the North shore looking down river, the migrating geese often feed in this area
The Schwerbelastungskörper is a test structure built in 1942 at the direction of Albert Speer, to see if the ground here would be able to the bear the weight of the vast Triumphal Arch which the Nazi regime planned to build to commemorate the First World War. It is 14m high, its basements extend to a depth of 18.2m, and it remained in use for its original purpose until 1977, although several centimetres of subsidence was already noticeable by the end of the war.