Articles by rockman

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Project Related

Pittsburgh PA Light Rail Tunnel Construction and Cost Overruns

February 24, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Pittsburgh PA Light Rail Tunnel Construction and Cost Overruns

The Port Authority of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) has a major transit improvement project dubbed the North Shore Connector. Its main components are twin bored tunnels 1.2 miles long that will connect the Port Authority’s Light Rail Transit system, the T, 1.2 miles from the Gateway Subway Station underneath Stanwix Street and the Allegheny River to the North Shore. It will travel under the river and provide three new stations and allow for future improvements beneficial to future development and continued downtown revitalization. The $435 million project is making news recently for cost increases, drawing comparisons to Boston’s Big Dig much to the dismay of the Port Authority. Read on for project maps, links and more info. 

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In Memoriam

Ralph B. Peck: 1912 – 2008

February 20, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Ralph B. Peck: 1912 – 2008

Ralph B. Peck, Professor Emeritus of Foundation Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign died of congestive heart failure on February 18, 2008, at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  He was born in Winnipeg, Canada, to his American parents, Orwin K and Ethel Huyck Peck on June 23, 1912. [Editor] More after the break [/Editor] 

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Geologic Hazards

New Orleans Levees Need to be Raised 11-ft

February 20, 2008 rockman Comments Off on New Orleans Levees Need to be Raised 11-ft

The US Army Corps of Engineers has issued a report that indicates the eastern portion of the levee system that protects Bernard Parrish will need to be raised by 11-ft to 29-ft to protect against the 100-year hurricane. Levees along Lake Pontchartrain were designed in the 1960s for what was then considered to be 200-yr and 300-yr hurricanes. Now they are judged sufficient for the 100-yr event. More at NOLA.COM.

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Geologic Hazards

Teenage Girl Buried Alive in Beach Bluff Landslide

February 20, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Teenage Girl Buried Alive in Beach Bluff Landslide

A teenage girl strolling on the beach in Pacifica, California was buried alive by a landslide. She was buried up to her chest, and a passer-by dug her out with his bare hands while more soil and rock fell around them. Story at KTVU San Francisco. See a nice oblique aerial photo of the beach prior to the landslide here. Those slopes don’t look particularly stable to me but what do I know? 

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Geologic Hazards

Eruption of Tainted Water Could Innundate Leadville, Colorado

February 20, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Eruption of Tainted Water Could Innundate Leadville, Colorado

Local Leadville, Colorado officials are very concerned about a backup of heavy metal impregnated water that is backing up behind a 2.1 mile partially collapsed drainage tunnel. The volume of water is approximately 1 billion gallons or enough to fill 1,500 Oympic-sized swimming pools.Officials are very concerned about the potential for a catastrophic collapse. Source: CNN. (Photo by foto3116)

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Available Resources

Second Issue of International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories [Official This Time]

February 19, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Second Issue of International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories [Official This Time]

The International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories has formally announced their second issue. Apparently when I posted about it previously, they had only two of the four papers.

This second issue contains four case histories that come with additional downloads. In particular, check out Dr. Edmund Medley’s Paper on the 2006 Hawaii Earthquakes. He has some neat  photos including some in 3-D (more about his 3-D photos).

 

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Available Resources

Series of Articles on Seismic Analysis

February 19, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Series of Articles on Seismic Analysis

I had an earthquake engineering course in my geological engineering undergraduate program, and an excellent teacher, but man, the math gave me fits! Well, apparently my time has finally come to make the effort to understand it again. A retired Canadian geophysicist/engineer is writing a series of articles on seismic analysis. Read more… (Photo by trochee)

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Geologic Hazards

USDOE Problems With [Not] Storing Nuclear Waste

February 18, 2008 rockman Comments Off on USDOE Problems With [Not] Storing Nuclear Waste

More problems for the US Department of Energy related to the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. The New York Times is reporting that the DOE is already 10 years behind in a commitment made to Power Companies to store their nuclear waste, and according to the DOE, it will likely be at least another 10 years before they are able to begin accepting waste for permanent storage. Who cares you ask? Well, the US has already payed out $342 million in 60 lawsuits filed by utility companies, and that total could reach $11 billion according to government estimates or $35 billion according to industry estimates before Yucca Mountain finaly opens and begins accepting waste. Source: New York Times by way of Ontario-geofish.

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Press Releases

Seeing Beneath the Surface: Use of Ground Penetrating Radar in Earth Science Research

February 18, 2008 rockman 2

Boulder, CO, USA –Studying the arrangements of sediments and sedimentary rocks in Earth’s near-surface layers received a recent boost from a new volume published by the Geological Society of America. Stratigraphic Analyses Using GPR, GSA Special Paper 432, offers a state-of-the-art overview of ground penetrating radar applications in the field of shallow subsurface stratigraphic analysis. [more…]

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