Mosque Is Too Much As a Muslim reader, I am shocked to read the article on the construction of the UAE Mosque (ENR 3/15 p.34). Islam discourages worldly showoffs, especially in respect to the place of worship. For a Muslim to pray, all he needs is a piece of clean land, nothing more. A bare roof and four walls are needed for the protection from rain and sun. The ruler of the UAE would be better prepared for his journey to the next world if he had spent these hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the living conditions of
More Than a Fence I just glanced through my latest issue of Engineering News-Record and was surprised to see a story on the Israel "fence." (ENR 3/29 p. 22). I was even more surprised to see that ENR has apparently become an accomplice to the Israeli misnomer that this "barrier" should actually be referred to as a "fence." To call something a fence implies a rather benign structure. In this case, the use of this term simply misrepresents the intent and purpose of this monstrosity. While this benign name may serve the Israelis in their attempt to put a reasoned
opinions UPDATE - (4/5/2004 Issue) Chasing Engineers Across the Battle Zone This week’s Award of Excellence cover story on Col. Gregg F. Martin, chief Army combat engineer in Iraq, was reported and written by Associate Editor Tom Sawyer. Sawyer had become intrigued about the work of combat engineers when he reported on the emergency construction of runways in a remote corner of Afghanistan in 2001. WITNESS Sawyer interviews Lt. Gen. William Wallace in Baghdad with Martin looking on. (Photo courtesy of 130th Engineer Brigade) The engineers’ role in the troop buildup in the Persian Gulf was the obvious follow-up. The
TRIPATHI In an election year, Republicans and Democrats can agree on at least one thing—that highway spending is essential to win re-election. They also know that in order to maintain our national economic health, we must fix our aging and distressed transportation system. Yet after prolonged squabbling between Congress and the White House, the Senate only recently passed a $318-billion transportation bill with a seemingly veto-proof margin of 76-21. The President’s proposal, in comparison, is a modest $256 billion. Some in the House last year proposed a Cadillac version worth $375 billion, but lawmakers there now are considering a $275-billion
opinions UPDATE - (3/22/2004 Issue) ENR Costs Guru Grogan Saw the Steel Price Hike Brewing The tremendous surge in steel prices during the first quarter has the industry talking. At the Associated General Contractors national convention in Orlando recently, many contractors said the soaring prices seemed to come out of the blue. But ENR’s Senior Economics Editor Timothy Grogan was writing about it last December, while forecasting ENR’s cost indexes. He predicted that steel would become the primary driver for inflation, noting that "fabricators would not be able to absorb higher mill prices in 2004" (ENR 12/22/03 p. 29). ENR’s
Don't Take Rural Water As a retired engineer in Dallas I am very interested in these schemes to rob other Texas areas to satisfy the desires of water users in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Now, your article "Deep in the Heart of Texas" states the proposal to rob the Amarillo-Lubbock area of its groundwater (ENR 2/16 p. 14). The water table there has been lowering due to necessary farm irrigation. The state of Texas needs these rural areas as well as their municipal areas. A way must be found to supply the municipalities with their necessary water without further disturbing
Take the Train to the Plan Your article about train transportation to and from airports touched on a favorite topic (ENR 12/15/03 p. 61). However, I have a more drastic suggestion for construction of new airports for major cities as they become needed. Because airports need a lot of space, new ones are usually built in undeveloped areas, permitting more free air operations. Unfortunately, because airports also provide ready markets of large numbers of people with specific needs, and they need a ready labor force, they are usually magnets for development of all types. And development leads to more development
For years, the standard practice within the U.S. steel construction market, excluding the West Coast, has been for fabricators to design member connections. This gives the fabricator better control of the process by designing connections that best fit their particular machinery and shop standards. But the practice is ineffective and risky for all parties involved in today’s litigious and claims-oriented environment. As structural engineer of record (SER) on some very large and complex steel buildings, we have found that it is best for the SER to design the connections and present them in the construction documents. The larger and more
Embrace New Materials As researchers and developers of new materials for construction applications, when we saw the headline of your recent editorial "Housing has a Relentless Quest for No Maintenance," (ENR 2/2 p. 48) we were expecting to see an opinion on how far development of new and improved materials for construction has come. Instead, we saw a rather surprising complaint–that new materials are too durable and that those who spend their time fixing bad, old materials will be out of work. Isn’t it time that the construction industry embraced "sustainable engineering" and new materials and better trained its work
Plentiful Opportunities The sky is not falling. Despite claims of "lifetime warranty" and a never-ending push toward "low maintenance," (neither of which is something new), homebuilding in the U.S. will continue to have plenty of opportunities and jobs for maintenance, repair, remodeling and renovation (ENR 2/2 p. 48). Entering the construction industry as a carpenter and tile setter who cut his teeth in housing (tract developments, custom homes, and finally urban renovation), I would assert that the need to fix something that’s broken will continue to account for only a small proportion of the growing volume of post-occupancy construction. Most
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