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Our "blog," short for Web log, is an ongoing mix of facts, snippets, observations, opinions and analysis. Comments are welcome and, in fact, encouraged!

March 2005

Moving Back in Time
By Judy Schriener
[March 24, 2005]

	Cat 60 crawler tractor circa 1930. (Photo by Judy Schriener)

Walking between the huge halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CONEXPO-CON/AGG last week was a haul in itself. You could take an inside route or an outside route. Outside was a display of a dozen or so pieces of really cool old, er, historic equipment that stopped even the most in-a-hurry attendee, at least momentarily.

The display of restored antique machines was sponsored by the Historical Construction Equipment Association, a 4,400-member organization based in Bowling Green, Ohio, in conjunction with the Associated Equipment Manufacturers. The HCEA has members in 25 countries, primarily because it is the only group of its kind, according to association archivist Thomas Berry. The 19-year-old organization encompasses equipment from all aspects of construction -- construction, surface mining and dredging. Berry collects and keeps track of everything from historical and technical data to photographs, movies and various memorabilia. HCEA also has a museum with all kinds of archives and memorabilia, plus more than 40 machines...and even a restoration shop! Membership is dirt cheap (pun intended) at just $27 annually ($35 outside the U.S.), which includes the quarterly publication Equipment Echoes.

Machines on display represented many decades and mostly came from private or manufacturers' collections, says Berry. Specifically, according to the HCEA Web site, "Gary Tetz brought his circa 1910 Good Roads crusher and screening outfit all the way from New York, as he did in 2002. Truman Price of Center, Colorado, showed a 1925 Case 12-20 Cross-Engine wheel tractor restored by Ken Kroschel; Ed Akin of Placerville, California brought his 1944 Lima 34 Paymaster shovel; and Doug Veerkamp, also from Placerville, showed a 1936 Cat No. 11 Auto Patrol, 1946 Cat D2 cable Traxcavator and a 1929 Cat 60 crawler tractor with 1934 diesel conversion. In addition, several manufacturers, including Allentown Equipment, Volvo, Miskin Scraper, Power Curber, Gorman-Rupp and Ingersoll-Rand also showed antique machines from their own collections."

The relics owned by members come in several forms: they are part of collections, they are in the process of being restored or contractors "are fortunate enough to still be using them in their business," says Berry. "We think it's fortunate -- sometimes they don't."

Walking and Walking and Walking in Las Vegas at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2005
By Judy Schriener
[March 18, 2005]

	TOPCON's booth was the scene of a lavish St. Patrick's Day celebration. (Photo by Judy Schriener)

There are two ways to "walk" the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2005 show in Las Vegas -- the old fashioned way, which takes its toll on even the youngest, healthiest feet, and on some kind of device with wheels. I've seen a couple of Segway transporters and several motorized wheelchairs. Yesterday I saw someone riding a device that was a cross between a bicycle and a motorized wheelchair. After three days of walking the show in the 3-million-sq-ft-plus Las Vegas Convention Center (plus lots all around it), I envied the guy. This show is HUGE!

Getting around during any show in Las Vegas is a challenge, but this one, with upward of 120,000 people, strains one's patience and creativity. Off-hours are a breeze for taxis, the monorail and the buses. But the taxi lines at prime time are an hour long at each location, including the so-called hidden ones that you hear about via word of mouth. The lines for the monorail are also horrendous, because there are only four of the little cars (about half the size of a New York subway car) in each train. And if you don't have a ticket, the lines just for tickets are very long, mostly because people don't know that there are other machines sprinkled around. Then on both ends of the monorail stations, you have to walk the entire length of whatever hotel casino is there. (I'm sure that was "the deal" to get approvals to get it built.)

Walking from place to place is another challenge, since anything "next door" to anything else is a 20-minute walk. You have to budget upward of an hour if you want to get anywhere in prime time. The other night, I had dinner plans at a restaurant about a mile and a half from the convention center, and all lines were so long that I struck out for Paradise Blvd., signaling for a taxi New York-style as I walked. Finally, one took pity on me and picked me up, despite it being illegal in that "zone." (Geez, what rules!) I was still half an hour late. And due (partly) to the difficulties of getting from the Bellagio, where the Associated General Contractors of America convention is, concurrent with CONEXPO, to the convention center and back, I've missed 99% of the AGC convention, unfortunately

Fuzzy "bugs" from CNH Power Components were a hit at CONEXPO. (Photo by Judy Schriener)

I finally got to ride the monorail, which has a limited span, unfortunately. Hopefully they'll expand it, but they've had enough problems just with this one. ENR has written about it all extensively. The last two times I've been to Las Vegas (for conferences! Really!), it's been shut down the entire time to fix one or another problem.

It's really cool! I rode it during the day and it creeps along slowly but offers a panoramic view of the Strip. I rode it back after dark last night and we all hung close to the windows, gaping and ooh'ing and aah'ing as if we were at the top of a 30-story building. I hope they expand it!

	Kathy Malangone and Amy Katz put out McGraw-Hill Construction's bags, which people scarfed up immediately. (Photo by Judy Schriener)

The show is awesome. Machinery so high that a person is dwarfed standing next to it. Miles and miles of it. And little exhibitions too, of every size, shape and type. The show is so long, five days, because it takes that long to walk it. Exhibitors try everything from "booth babes" to giveaways of every little and big thing under the sun to game show knockoffs to get people in their booths. St. Patrick's Day was quite an occasion at the TOPCON booth, with a full-blown Irish dancing, singing and rockin' out event in the booth. People jammed in for the fun. At the opposite extreme, little bright red, fuzzy "bugs" that couldn't have cost more than a penny apiece adorned shoulders and badges, courtesy of CNH Power Components and people hiked to the ends of the South Hall in search of them. Our own big, bright, zippered orange McGraw-Hill Construction bags were so "hot" that half a dozen armloads (see pic) were gone within 10 minutes each time they were put out.

To get both a McGraw-Hill Construction bag and a CNH fuzzy bug, you have to go from the far edge of the North Hall to the far edge of the South Hall, which only takes about half an hour, including brief gawking stops. But hopefully people are here for real information and real demonstrations, not just for the little giveaways. Otherwise, it's a long walk!

Takeoffs and Landings: Extra Mileage from the Transpo Beat
By Aileen Cho
[March 1, 2005]

ENR transportation beat reporter Aileen Cho offers a few choice morsels she picked up on recent assignments, which didn't make it into magazine articles.

	Aileen Cho (Photo by Tom Sawyer for ENR)

How Wide Was My Runway

Although Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport recently announced that it would not be altering its runways for the new Airbus A380’s double-decker 262-ft wingspan to touch down anytime soon, six other U.S. airports do anticipate some wide-bodied arrivals. At the Transportation Research Board conference this January, Joseph Polk, construction adminstration manager for Memphis International Airport, said it expects at least 12 daily operations by 2010. Memphis is a major hub for Fed-Ex, which has committed to buying Airbus A380 all-cargo planes.

Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration says airports must have runways with at least 250-ft widths. But some U.S. airports are contending that 200-ft widths are enough–especially considering that they’re not expecting a steady number of Airbus arrivals and departures. The standards for Group 6 aircraft also call for separation of taxiway and runway of at least 550 feet and taxiway-taxiway separations of 324 feet.

FAA airport engineer Rodney Joel noted during the session that Airbus "speculates that 150 —ft widths may be enough" to accommodate the 1.3-million-lb aircraft, at least for non-regular intervals. "Six airports in the United States may need to accommodate Airbus" in the near future, he added. Those are John F. Kennedy, Miami, San Francisco, LAX, Memphis and Anchorage.

Happy Birthday

Denver International Airport is gearing up for its 10th birthday next year, the anniversary of a project for which Ginger Evans won the Award of Excellence (ENR 2/14/94,p.28). Marred by the disastrous results of an ambitious baggage handling system then and now concerned about the possible bankruptcy of its core carrier, United Airlines, DIA nevertheless pushes on with hopes and plans. Designed for 50 million annual passengers, the airport is handling 42 million now, says Hana Rocek, assistant deputy manager for maintenance and engineering. DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon adds that since 9/11, several major construction projects worth a total of $100 million have been on hold, but DIA anticipates the possibility of low-cost carriers coming in–thus requiring more gates. The airport is currently building a $1-million expanded federal inspection facility. If and when it’s needed, it has 53 acres ready for expanding airport facilities.

While at the aforementioned TRB conference (markedly fewer sessions than in previous years), I stopped by the hospitality suite of Burgess & Niple , the Cleveland-based bridge inspection firm that develops its own cable-climbing equipment (ENR 12/6/04, p.13). From their eye-in-the-sky perspectives, members have seen suicide jumpers, African parrots on the lam from the zoo, snakes and a lot of unappealing pigeon guano. While shamelessly scarfing eggrolls from the B&N buffet, I met Frederick Gottemoeller, principal with Rosales Gottemoeller & Associates, which did conceptual design for the bascule portion of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge (ENR 1/31, p. 26). Gottemoeller has just come out with a new book, Bridgescape, which I am hoping to receive soon.

Climbing Bridges

I discovered that Burgess & Niple is not alone in the bridge-climbing specialization niche. I was contacted by Paul Braun of Eau Claire, Wisc.-based Ayres Associates, a 400-employee firm whose services include transportation engineering perfomed in Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and now Georgia. They also have mountain climbers-cum-bridge inspectors, and their portfolio includes the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Ayres developed a special rolling harness to inspect that icon’s 84 cables some 400 feet up in the air.

I’ve also spoken in the past to Michael S. Januszkiewicz of Modjeski & Masters’ Poughkeepsie, N.Y., office, for whom bridge cable climbing doesn’t really get exciting unless the winds are blowing at more than 50 mph. He’s been working on an inspection job at the 300-ft-diameter Green Bank Radio Telescope in Green Bank, W. Va., which he says is the world’s largest movable land object. "It stands higher than the Statue of Liberty and almost as tall as the Washington Monument, but it is fully steerable: it can rotate 360 degrees and tilt over a 90-degree range," he states.

ASCE Thai Tsunami Team Finds High-Density Poly Pipe Performed Well
By Curtis Edwards
[March 1, 2005]

In late January, the American Society of Civil Engineers sent three teams to the tsunami disaster zone to conduct damage assessments. Here is the final field report from the Thai team. Curtis Edwards is a vice president with San Diego, Calif.-based environmental enginnering conultant Pountney Psomas. He is also ASCE's Thailand team leader.

Feb.3, 2005–One of the surprising findings of this investigation is the prevalent use of high-density polyethylene piping for potable water. Much of this piping was exposed due to erosion and subjected to harsh conditions from debris and waves. The piping performed very well, with few failures. The material is flexible, allowing it to conform to new contours after the erosion. It is also very light, making repairs very easy.

An observation from this investigation that is different from many others around the world is that repair/restoration is moving very rapidly. Unfortunately for documentation, much of the debris has been cleared from the hundreds of kilometers of the inundation areas. Sixty percent of the damaged/destroyed buildings have been demolished and removed. Half of the remaining buildings are undergoing restoration; more than one percent of those already open–a true testament to the resiliency of the people of Thailand.

In stark contrast to the mainland recovery efforts, the island of Phi Phi (where 3,000 people were killed) is only now beginning to recover. This island is mostly privately owned, and is accessible only by boat or helicopters. As a result, recovery has been slow. Complicating the rebuilding process is that at the outset, the state government would not permit the disposal of collected debris. That was apparently reversed in early February; clearing and disposal by barge is now progressing.

Our impression is that Thailand will likely begin a planning process to limit construction in the vulnerable areas so as to avoid future catastrophes, and that much of the formerly developed area that devastated will apparently be converted to a memorial park.

Sri Lankan Policeman Recalls
By John Headland
[March 1, 2005]

In late January, the American Society of Civil Engineers sent three teams to the tsunami disaster zone to conduct damage assessments. Here is the final field report from the Sri Lankan team. John Headland is a principal with Moffatt & Nichol consulting engineers, headquartered in Long Beach, Calif. He is also the Sri Lanka ASCE COPRI team leader.

Feb. 4, 2005–Today, we visited the town of Trincomalee in the northwest region of Sri Lanka. The area is characterized by an expansive estuarial bay (Kaddiyar Bay) which is the terminus of the Mahaweli Ganga, the largest river in Sri Lanka. Although many parts of the bay are protected from ocean waves, portions of these protected areas were significantly damaged by the tsunami. We visited the area on the southern perimeter of the bay, an area that faces east-northeast directly opposite the bay’s ocean entrance; specifically, we traveled to the Island of Kinnyai. This island is one of many that have formed at the mouth of the Mahaweli Ganga delta. Access to the island is provided by an ingeniously efficient ferry system comprised of simple barges powered by outboard engines. The island itself was populated by 84,000 residents. During the tsunami, 480 perished. The damage was widespread, and included loss of the coastal roadway and many, many buildings, as we had seen elsewhere on previous days. We offered a ride to a local policeman who described the tsunami as a small initial wave followed by a 40-foot wall of black water as high as the palm trees. He also mentioned that houses within 0.5 km of the shoreline were damaged, while the inundation penetrated about 2.5 km.

There were several port facilities in the area, including a cement and a grain terminal. These were located in interior portions of the bay, not directly opposite the bay’s ocean entrance. There were no signs of tsunami damage at these sites. Similarly, shore areas on the northern perimeter of the bay within the inner harbor area were relatively unaffected. It seems that the wave was significantly reduced by the shadowing effects of the complicated Kaddiyar Bay geometry.

We left Kinnyai Island late in the day and traveled from Trincomalee to Anuradhapura during an extended period of extraordinary twilight over a very rough road. This road took us through the least-populated areas of our trip. Early along the way, we encountered a series of elephant herds; a special, unexpected treat.

This day ends our technical emprise. We have witnessed the aftermath of immense human suffering. We have vastly extended our understanding of the devastating impacts of tsunami waves. We have observed the tsunami-induced morphological changes to tidal inlets and man-made engineering works (e.g., bridges and causeways). We have gained new knowledge and we have had our basic knowledge dramatically reinforced. We have learned that flooding and resultant loss of life are related to land elevation; that basic education of tsunami wave and flood phenomena will save lives; that flood-zone mapping and the development of vertical or horizontal evacuation routes (either to high ground or away from the shore) will save lives; and that buildings must be properly built. We have learned that wave heights change dramatically from place to place; that the lee side of an island nation can be significantly affected by a tsunami; that tsunamis can penetrate well inland; and that beaches, palm trees, and certain overtopped structures–such as seawalls and other stout wall structures (e.g. Dutch Fort in Galle)–can withstand a tsunami.

It has been an honor for our team to serve COPRI/ASCE in this endeavor, and we applaud its leadership in commissioning our efforts. We also extend our thanks to our new Sri Lankan friends (Suresh deMel, Aro de Mel, Hiran de Mel, Gihan and Ranjit "Galops" Galappatti); our new TCLEE friends (Don Ballantyne, Mary Goodson, Adam Ludwig and Jane Preuss), and ICE member Gordon Masterson. One can imagine that investment in such trips and their subsequent documentation will serve to spread knowledge of natural coastal disasters. It can only be hoped that the lessons learned from such efforts will lead to a better understanding of the important issues that face—and a safer world for those who rely upon—COPRI members.

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