Public Works articles from February 1999

Public Works archives from February 1999

Senators and representatives met in January and began the 106th Congress facing a full agenda in the coming two-year session.
February 1, 1999... Precious little of that agenda, however, will involve public works matters. Congress resolved most pressing surface transportation issues in 1998 when it passed the six-year Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. In addition to...

Modernizing roadways with new paving technologies.(Cover Story)
February 1, 1999... Navigating a city street with scattered potholes is a sure-fire recipe for frustration; so is sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic because one or two highway lanes are closed for pavement maintenance. One of the most visible public works...

Fighting the rising cost of road repair.(road repair conducted in Woodward County, Oklahoma)(Cover Story)
February 1, 1999... County Commissioner Earl Hauth, District 3, Woodward County, Oklahoma, faces the same problems as county commissioners throughout the county. The most pressing of these is the deterioration of roads in his district with limited funds available...

Austin's program of manhole maintenance.(Texas)(Cover Story)
February 1, 1999... Sanitary sewer system maintenance is a challenge faced by every municipality no matter how large or small. Repairs to deteriorating manhole structures - an important part of the process - frequently are neglected by cash-strapped city...

Feed/drain system keeps athletic turf healthy.(irrigation and drainage system of the Atlanta Braves' Turner Stadium)
February 1, 1999... To have the ideal grass baseball field, the Atlanta Braves selected a natural turf management system that uses special drain and watering pipe. The Turner Stadium installation, designed by The Motz Group, Cincinnati, uses an irrigation and...

Innovative technology reduces stormwater trash.
February 1, 1999... Stormwater can transport and deliver large quantities of pollutants to receiving waterways. These pollutants can degrade receiving waters and impair the designated beneficial uses. Gross pollutants (material larger than five mm) make up a...

Moving traffic with responsive traffic signals.(Cover Story)
February 1, 1999... When Lexena, Kansas, needed a solution to its traffic congestion problems, the city discovered a traffic light that uses video cameras to determine traffic volume and regulate traffic flow at intersections. Motorists need no longer wait at a...

Economic placement of water lines in cold regions.
February 1, 1999... The classic rule-of-thumb procedure for avoiding cold-weather damage to water pipe is "bury it deep." If water lines are located below the lowest level of frost penetration - five to six ft or more in many cold region locales - they should be...

Airport expansion project flies with precast pipe.(Louisville International Airport in Kentucky)
February 1, 1999... A $600-million expansion and modernization project at the Louisville International Airport relied on precast reinforced concrete pipe as a critical component of the new facility. Louisville, Kentucky is a growing city and major commerce...

A new approach to city signage.(Cover Story)
February 1, 1999... For centuries, people have used signs to help them navigate their way to and from where they wanted to go. Today, the average cityscape has an embarrassment of signs: Park, Don't Park, Stop, Don't Stop, Tow-Away Zone, One Way, Loading Zone, Bus...

Camp Blanding digs in with 65 miles of all new lines.(Orange Park, Florida)
February 1, 1999... During World War II, Camp Blanding, located on Kingsley Lake south of Orange Park, Florida, served as an infantry replacement center where 800,000 soldiers were trained and as a prisoner of war compound. Today Camp Blanding belongs to the...

Regional cooperation and a new water main fosters economic growth.(water supply of the North Star BHP Steel Ltd. plant in Fulton County, Ohio)
February 1, 1999... Rows of corn, wheat, and soybeans stretch as far as the eye can see during growing season in rural Fulton County, Ohio. However, amidst the county's farm fields and haystacks, rolls of reprocessed steel are now rolling off the production line...

Orlando Utilities Commission uses "open book" design/build approach.(Florida)
February 1, 1999... In 1994, the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), a major water and power utility in Central Florida, initiated "Water Project 2000" to improve water quality; renew and replace infrastructure; and expand capacity to ensure a safe, reliable, and...

NJ county mixes education, research, and composting.(Burlington County, New Jersey)
February 1, 1999... The Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders in New Jersey started planning for the management of their solid wastes in the late 1970s. in spring 1998, a key element in the plan, a 157,000-sq ft co-composting facility, opened at the...

The "flight recorder" of heavy trucks.(electronic control module)
February 1, 1999... A heavy truck manufactured in the mid-1980s is likely to be equipped with an electronic control module (ECM) that has the capability of being the truck's "flight recorder" in a serious accident. Extracting data from the ECM often answers...

Apparatus and attitudes.(road safety issues involved in public works)
February 1, 1999... Last year, the National Safety Council formed a strategic alliance with the American Road & Transportation Builders Association to address roadway safety issues. In announcing the partnership, NSC commented: "Vehicle risk in roadway...

State's liability for overhanging tree limbs is limited.(liability of public works)
February 1, 1999... An accident occurred on the afternoon of September 21, 1990 as Danny P. Thompson and Michael Holland were returning from work. As they drove north on Louisiana Highway 628, Thompson attempted to pass a vehicle driven by Richard Todd Morse....