 Hello, welcome to this week's edition of This Week in Civil Engineering. Also known as TWICE, a weekly news show focused on providing civil engineering professionals with the most important and relevant industry updates. I'm your host for this week, Danny Lu, and I'm really excited because this is my first episode. I'm a chartered civil engineer specialising in highways and infrastructure in the UK. I also run civilengineermental.com, supporting graduates in pursuing a professional qualification with the institution of civil engineers. You can find all of the episodes of This Week in Civil Engineering at TWICE.News, that's TWIC.News. References to all the news stories covered will be in the episode show notes. And if you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe to the TWICE playlist to receive weekly episodes. Now it's time for What's Happened This Week in Civil Engineering. Now it's time for This Week's News. You're about to hear excerpts from the stories referenced. Links to all of the full articles can be found at TWICE.News. First, let's cover the biggest breaking news stories from this week that might affect civil engineering companies' professionals. Firstly, civil engineer Bartel Tunt searching sewage for COVID-19. From Dean Gaiman at news.unl.edu. Since April, Shannon Bartel Tunt, professor and chair of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been leading a team of students and building systems personnel in a hunt for the COVID-19 virus in wastewater by reverse transcription, polymerase, chain reaction, similar to spot tests. She's studying the possibility of using wastewater testing as a method of community surveillance to predict outbreaks in clusters. The virus appears in a wastewater much before the symptoms appear in the community and can be used to estimate a number of cases as a relation to the concentration of virus found. This method has been used in the past for other viruses like polio. In August, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention created a national wastewater surveillance system to track COVID-19 in communities. The Office of Research and Economic Development provided funds for the campus project. Civil engineers, environmentalists and a scientific community are watching this development closely and this may be a helpful method to preempt the spread of the virus before it comes rampant. Next up, to South Carolina. Malfunction Junction Interchange Makeover gives final go ahead to start next summer from Adam Benson at postandcareer.com. The junction of three Columbia area interstates known as Malfunction Junction is known for its famous traffic jams. The work for the state's most expensive $1.6 billion makeover is expected to start in the summer of 2021 by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Though it is a 15-year project, the Department of Transportation hopes to get the project completed by 2029. The traffic jams on interstates 2026 and 126 have been held responsible for impeding the progress in Midlands due to the inability of the obsolete design to handle more than 144,000 vehicles a day. The estimated time lost is three work weeks. The project is in five phases and will have seven new interchanges. More lanes will be added on both sides on interstate 26. There will be many exits and 12-foot inside shoulders for emergency vehicles. The work will be done mostly at night or at low traffic hours and information on lane closures, detours and other activities will be relayed in real time. The project will lead to more and new exciting business investments. Sounds like a much needed project that will improve the life of many people. Next, let's look at the biggest civil engineering stories in the United States. Firstly, Maryland City developing their living shoreline with a boat ramp, kayak launch or water street lots. David Anson at BaltimoreSun.com The city of Haber De Grace has decided to redevelop the front properties owned by the city into a living shoreline. There will be local plants, stormwater filtration system and boat and kayak launch areas. The project cost is estimated at $2.5 million. Haber De Grace purchased 3.2 acres of land for $1.5 million in early 2017. The land earlier had an oil terminal and sole samples showed fuel and pesticide residues. Mayor William T. Martin said the city can change the industrial shoreline back to its natural state similar to shoreline redevelopment along the Haber De Grace promenade in the Concord Point Park. Council President David Glenn-Noey said enthusiastically it would be green and lush and beautiful. The plants will be beautiful. As engineers, how can we play roles in creating natural environments in cities to provide open spaces for citizens? This is certainly the only part, this exciting part of what we do. Next up, out to Oregon. New Oregon Inlet Bridge to get behavior tests with billions of laser points. From Jeff Hampton at pilotonline.com A high-tech survey measures billions of points on the new $252 million 2.8-mile Oregon Inlet Bridge to make a three-dimensional map to ensure it behaves as it is designed to do. It uses GPS technology communicating with an instrument on the shore. Opened in February 2019, the Mark Baselite Bridge replaced the Old Bonner Bridge of 56 years. It connects the northern out-of-banks to Hatteras Island. The Strength and Design Award-winning bridge has an expected life of 100 years. It is designed to weather hurricanes with ease. The Old Bonner Bridge was damaged by a loose barge in 1990. The current in the Oregon Inlet scoured the pilings and sometimes pieces of concrete fell into the water exposing the steel. It was also monitored by GPS surveys in spite of its age and condition. It never moved. Bridge monitoring systems are getting more and more sophisticated by the day. It has become imperative for civil engineers to keep reading research in state-based technological developments that are not left behind. EMI will look to dive more into the Oregon Inlet Bridge through the structural engineering department. Let's take a quick break from the news for this week's civil engineering career inspiration. I've been asked numerous times why I chose to create civil engineering. At school I loved massive visits and I decided to study civil engineering because I wanted to improve the infrastructure around the world to make it a better place for mankind. When you next go on your journey to school or to work or even just a day out with your family have a look around you and you'll notice how important civil engineering is to our daily lives. Now let's get back to the news. Next, let's move on to some international news in civil engineering from this week. First up, we're headed to my homeland. Inspirational engineering projects take top honors at ICE Southwest Awards. Lydia Pierce at ICE.org.uk. Seven inspirational civil engineering projects include in a spectacular bridge and innovative surf in Lake among the winners at the ICE Southwest Civil Engineering Awards 2020. Besides the civil engineering projects right civil engineers at the beginning of their careers were also recognized by the awards. The ICE Southwest Civil Engineering Awards 2020 awarded winners online on Thursday 24th September 2020. The physical awards ceremony planned for early July was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The online event was sponsored by Keer Bam, Hay Specialist Recruitment and Tony G & Partners was hosted by Ryster and Prokasta Judy Spears. The showcase award was the Tintagel Castle Bridge in Kabul spanning 190 feet gorge uniting the two parts of the castle site for the first time in five centuries. The People's Choice Award based on more than 3,000 people's votes was won by the WAVE and the Inverted Artificial Surf in Lake New Bristol. Mike Gallup, chair of the judging panel and Western Route Director of Network Rail said that these winning projects showed that we have the skills needed to help the country recover from the global pandemic. It is nice to not only see civil engineering projects being recognized but also young engineers sharing it in the spotlight. Sounds like a wonderful event and initiative. Next up, over to Liverpool. Everton submits modified plans over its new stadium from thecivilengineer.org. The design submitted by Everton Football Club with the new stadium at the Bramley Moor Dock, in 2019, has been changed. As part of a larger project that will cost about $6.4 billion it will have 52,888 seats. Local economy will get an uplift of $1.28 billion and 15,000 jobs will be created. Some of these changes are a new step plaza on the stadium's west stand with a magnificent view of the Mersey River placing solar panels on the roof instead of the outside of the west stand of the stadium decreasing the height of the stadium and improving the design of the stadium's brick facade. Construction will begin in early 2021 and it is expected to be completed between 2023 and 2024. Stadiums are always exciting projects for civil engineers not only because they are rare but also because the designs showcase the best talents in civil engineering design and construction. On that note, let's cover a few infrastructure related stories starting with airports. Federal Aviation Administration announces Moor Airport Infrastructure Grants Jordan Green at airlinegeeks.com The Federal Aviation Administration announced $335 million for infrastructure grants for airports throughout the US. Weeks after FAA announced $1.2 billion in airport safety and infrastructure grants to 405 airports. The $335 million federal funding will go into improvement of travel, safety, trade jobs and help the economy. It will consist of 61 grants for 80 airports. Luzarm Strong New Orleans International Airport got approximately $39 million for a taxiway extension project. McGraw Airport in Alaska got approximately $34 million. Memphis International Airport in Tennessee approximately $31 million and Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming got approximately $29 million. The smallest grant of $35,000 went to Aberdeen Regional Airport in Brown County, South Dakota. Aberdeen Regional took quiet safety and security equipment. McGraw Airport will use its grants for projects including apron, taxiway, runway, runway lighting and taxiway lighting reconstruction. Memphis International will use its grants for the icing pad while Jackson Hole Airport will use it for runway reconstruction. $300 million is for the airport improvement program and $35 million is for Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. How much will civil engineering firm be affected by these grants? Is their work coming to you because of it or can you create them? And last but not least, the Federal Highway Administration initiates Transportation Innovation Support from Douglas Clark at transportationtodaynews.com The Department of Transport Initiative Everyday Counts started 10 years ago in collaboration with state, local and tribal transportation agencies for those innovations in tools, technologies and ways to improve road and bridge constructions. They also helped to reduce costs and time for these projects. The Federal Highway Administration will support the sick frown of its Everyday Counts innovations. The innovations selected are Virtual Public Involvement Next Generation Traffic Instant Management Crown Sourcing to Advanced Operations E-Ticketing and Digital As-Buils Strategic Workforce Development Targeted Overlay Payment Solutions and Ultra-High Performance Concrete for Bridge Preservation and Repair. Federal Highway Administration Nicole R. Nason said that these innovations have a tremendous potential for agencies with limited resources to improve project delivery time, effectiveness, safety and help with the nation's economy. Civil Engineers, especially those with interest in roads and bridges should feel highly encouraged to see such initiatives from the FHWA and the DOT. To wrap up, here's an inspiring quote to motivate you for the rest of your day. Sir Winston Churchill said that we shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us. The buildings that deliver or work in have a huge impact on us and we need to design and manage them more sustainably to protect our planet's natural resources. There you have it. That's what's happening this week in Civil Engineering. You can find references to all the stories mentioned at twice.news and all episodes are also published in video on the EMI's YouTube channel at youtube.com slash engineering careers. Remember to subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And of course, YouTube for the video version. This is Danny Liu signing off. We'll see you next week. In the meantime, be safe, go and be the best civil engineering professional that you can be.