 Welcome to another 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 episode, Kamini Fenley. I'm a practicing civil engineer and I work on land development projects all throughout New York City. You can find all of the episodes to This Week in Civil Engineering at TWICE.News. That's TWICE, TWICE.News. References to all the news stories will be covered in the episode show notes, and if you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe to the engineering news playlist so you can receive notifications for all the weekly episodes. Now it's time to find out what's happening 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 stories from this past week that might affect civil engineering companies and professionals alike. Center technology aims to help U.S. cities extend the life of aging pipelines from Jerome Lynch at the Michigan Engineer News Center. University of Michigan researchers are collaborating with the Great Lakes Water Authority and engineering firm Structural Technologies on a pilot project in the motor city that harnesses the power of smart infrastructure centers and innovating lighting technologies. That combination could bolster the structural integrity of water pipelines and alert the utility ahead of line ruptures that can leave residents without service and cost municipalities millions. In early August, Great Lakes Water Authority's crews installed a liner inside the block-long section of pipeline a few miles east of Detroit's main downtown area. Created by Structural Technologies, the liner is made of both steel reinforced polymer and mortar composites, adding additional structural capacity to the increasing pipeline durability. In June of 2019, the Detroit officials announced a five-year, $500 million replacement project for water and sewer pipes throughout the city. It represents the first major upgrade to the system in roughly 90 years. Line replacement is a daunting task for any city for a host of reasons, from service interruptions to traffic foul-ups caused by work along busy streets. Addressing large sections of a municipal system in a short period of time is financially impossible for most cities. That means identifying problem areas is key to infrastructure replacement moving forward. It's really great to hear about different ways technology can be used to assist civil engineers in maintaining and improving our infrastructure. Next up, let's look at an interesting story from China. 7,600-ton building walks to its new location from Jeff Parsons Metro.co.uk. Engineers in China have come up with a remarkable way of moving an 85-year-old building. Rather than demolish and rebuild the structure, they attached it to 198 robotic legs and walked it to its new destination. The entire 7,600-ton structure took 18 days to move itself, 62 meters to its new location in Shanghai. The building, Lagana Primary School, needed to be moved to make way for a new commercial center. Meanwhile, the school will be transformed into a cultural education and heritage center at its new location. What makes the engineering fee all more impressive is that the building isn't just a typical square block. The five-story construction has an awkward shape that the technology had to deal with. This is a very, very impressive feat, and looking at the photos, it really shows the magnitude of this project. Congratulations to the team that accomplished it. Next up, US News and Civil Engineering will head over to the West Coast. Southern California to Vegas high-speed rail project hits the brakes as financing falters from Doug Pupil at enr.com. Plans to build a high-speed electric train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas have been sidetracked over the investor's inability to finance the project. Fortress Investment Group announced on October 30 that it has postponed its planned $8 billion Brightline West project, which was expected to start construction this quarter. Fortress and its subsidiary Brightline Holdings has been marketing $3.2 billion in tax-free private activity bonds authorized by officials in California and Nevada. The amount investors sought was reduced to $2.4 billion in recent weeks, but was still met with skeptical response in the bond market. Market conditions, particularly driven by the pandemic and the election, caused the postponement. The Florida-based company has recently launched a website that includes engineering and construction information about the Brightline West project. Groundbreaking has been scheduled for late this year on what's being called the High Desert segment, a 190-mile stretch from Victorville, California to a proposed station south of the Las Vegas Strip. The planned route follows right away along Interstate 15, which links Las Vegas to its biggest tourism market, Southern California. The train will run through the I-15 median at some points alongside the highway in other areas. Completion of the entire project has been set up for 2024. Brightline says its train, which can operate at speeds up to 200 miles an hour, will cut the normal six-hour drive between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. You wonder if the postponement of this project is yet another effect of the COVID pandemic and what other potential project postponements might continue to happen in the future? Definitely something for civil engineering firms to keep an eye on. Next up, Georgia Port Authority proposes inland port box expansion from Mark Solomon at FrightWaves.com. The Georgia Port Authority, GPA, plans to add 22% of container storage capacity at its inland distribution terminal in the northwest Georgia town of Chatsworth, as it gears up for an expected increase of export traffic from Chatsworth to the docks at Savannah. The proposed $450,000 initiative, which will be voted on by the Georgia Port Authority Board on its November meeting, will add 13 stacks of 20-foot equivalent units TEUs, containers, to the Appalachian region of Port 60's stack of box currently in its inventory. The objective is to ensure that companies using the ARP to ship goods by rail from Chatsworth to Savannah have the box to capacity to do so. Open in August 2018, the inland port is designed to expedite the flow of goods between the state's northwest quadrant and Savannah without the need to truck freight through, among other places, Metro Atlanta. The facility was designed to expand export markets for companies in Georgia and neighboring states, as well as to facilitate the flow of sea freight imports that clear Savannah and are bound for inland U.S. markets. Chatsworth is GPA's first inland port model, but it won't be the last. The Port Authority will apply for federal government grants, sometimes this spring, to construct a similar facility in northeast Georgia. It sounds like there will be a good amount of civil engineering work done in Georgia in the coming years. And now I've got some career inspiration for you. And now for a little bit of career advice. I've been thinking about working from home in a bit of a more permanent manner. There's no doubt that virtual work will continue in either hybrid or pure models across the industry. I encourage you all to take trainings and truly embrace collaborative technologies such as Microsoft Teams. Not only will these programs help you solidify your workflow, but also keep you in contact with your project team members. These daily communications are vital not only to help you with your organization, but also for your sanity. So if you've been hesitant, go for it and just go all in. Now let's move on to some international news and civil engineering from the past week. First, we're going to head over to Europe. CMEX goes global with carbon neutral concrete from Craig Bettenhausen at cn.acs.org. When it comes to construction, concrete is king, but making it releases a lot of carbon dioxide, around 8% of global emissions. Demand for global carbon emissions is creating a market for concrete with smaller carbon footprints. The concrete maker CMEX is addressing that trend with what is said to be the first net zero CO2 or carbon dioxide concrete to become available worldwide. Concrete packs a double wallop of CO2. Manufacturers first have to fuel to heat limestone to 1300 degrees Celsius and then the conversion of CaCO3 or calcium carbonate to CaO, calcium oxide releases CO2 as a byproduct, explains Steven J. Davis, a professor of earth system science at the University of California, Irvine. They further heat the calcium oxide to 1450 degrees Celsius to center it with other components such as gypsum to form clinker, the cement that binds standard concrete together. CMEX's Virtua Ultra replaces limestone based clinker with an alkali activated alumina silicate polymer matrix. Preparation of the binder does not require high temperatures and does not release carbon dioxide, dropping its carbon footprint by 70% compared to standard concrete. CMEX buys carbon offsets to make the concrete 100% carbon neutral. This sounds like a potentially very very positive development in the world of concrete. EMI is currently seeking a CMEX representative to explain this new product on an episode of the Structural Engineering Channel which can be found at structuralengineeringchannel.com. Next up let's head down under to Australia. Costs blowout on the Wangela Dam project doubles public bill to almost $1.5 billion before a new South Wales scheme approved from Ann Davis at TheGuardian.com. The cost of raising the wall at the Wangela Dam, the centerpiece of the federal and New South Wales government's water infrastructure plans, has blown out from $650 million to nearly $1.5 billion before the project has even been granted approval. Guardian Australia has been told by multiple sources that the cost of the project to raise the dam wall at the junction of the Lackland and Ibrocrombie rivers, 48 kilometers from the Kaurah in New South Wales, has doubled due to part to the huge amount of environmental offsets that will be needed to compensate for the impact of the scheme. The Wangela project and two others, Dungo and Dam near Tamworth and Mole Creek Dam, were first announced by the Prime Minister New South Wales Premier in October 2019 at the height of the drought when there were fears that some towns could possibly run out of water. They are now being fast-tracked through the New South Wales planning process as state significant infrastructure. The federal government doubled its contribution in September 2020 budget to $325 million towards Wangela and a further $242 million towards Dungo and Dam despite the lack of any project assessments. It has also converted the funds from a loan to a grant for New South Wales. The project will double the dam's capacity by adding 650 gallons but will in none day a large area of valuable farmland and destroy critically endangered ecological communities as well as having major downstream impacts on six important wetlands which are habitats for native and migratory birds. This story certainly showcases some of the challenges in planning and budgeting for mega projects as well as the considerations for environmental impacts. On that note, let's cover a few infrastructure-related stories starting with some general news about infrastructure projects. Utah Department of Transportation putting final touches on I-15 tech corridor completing 10-year expansion project from Jason Lee at Deseret.com. The Utah Department of Transportation Friday announced the completion of the I-15 technology corridor project which expanded the freeway from four to six lanes in both directions between Lehigh Main Street and State Route 92. The milestone marked the final phase in reconstructing I-15 in northern Utah County over the past decade that increased vehicle capacity on the roadway from Bangor to Hwy to Spanish Fork. At the cost of $415 million, this most recent project includes the state's first one-way frontage system allowing two redesigned interchanges and new trails for pedestrians and cyclists. Started in May of 2018, the I-15 technology corridor is considered the final piece of reconstructing the freeway in northern Utah County along with the I-15 poor project, the Point Project and Access Utah County project, all completed since 2010 at the cost of just over $2.1 billion. The additional lanes on I-15 are designed to keep traffic in heavily traveled areas moving and improve quality of life for residents and commuters, said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason. Travel times from the point of the mountain to Lehigh Main Street in the afternoon commute will be reduced up to 50% he added, which will benefit the growing number of vehicles that drive in and around the northern Utah County area. It will be very interesting to see how the Utah DOT measures the success of this project in the years to come. For example, will travel times be reduced because of the additional lanes? Definitely something to watch. Next up, we're off to the windy city of Chicago. Lightfoot administration outlines five-year, $3.7 billion plan to repair, maintain roads, bridges and other city assets. From Fran Spielman at thechicagosuntimes.com. Top mayoral aides on Tuesday unveiled a five-year, $3.7 billion capital program amid concerns about the city's ability to finance more massive borrowing, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot's demand that Alderman relinquish at least some of the control over their treasured menu program in exchange for increased buying power. In virtual briefings conspicuously timed for election day, Alderman were told that the massive borrowing would be bankrolled by a mix of tax increment financing, a first-year bond issue backed by property and or sales taxes, and quote, interim financing and cash flow management in anticipation for the future state and federal funding. That's not good enough to satisfy Civic Federation President Lawrence Masal. Not when Lightfoot's quote pandemic budget already includes $1.7 billion depth restructuring and financing with nearly $949 million of the savings claimed in the first two years. Critics have called it a quote, scoop and toss on steroids. Yet another source of controversy is the mayor's plan to increase the buying power of the Aldermanic menu from $1.3 million a year for each of the 50 Aldermen to $1.8 million by taking projects off their plate. Chicago needs $4.4 billion over the next five years to put streets, bridges, buildings, vehicles on maintenance and replacement cycles, but has funding for only $1.7 billion. The mayor's plan would eliminate the backlog by spending $617 million the first year and $3.7 billion over five years. Among the big ticket items, $759.3 million for bridge repair and replacement, $622.4 million for street resurfacing, and $400.2 million for projects concerning quote, safety, mobility and economic development in the public way. An amount that includes $37 million for bike improvement and $25 million for priority bus routes and station improvements. This is a story I am sure civil engineering professionals and firms in the Windy City are going to be looking very closely at. Now here's a quote to inspire some of our students and young professional listeners. It comes from our very own Anthony Fasano. He says in episode 145 of the Civil Engineering Podcast, Internet different companies, attend industry events, seek out industry information interviews and use your school resources to the fullest and start to build your network as early as possible. Anthony, I could not agree with you more. While these things may seem difficult right now, virtual conferences and networking events are happening all across the country and events that you probably would have never been able to go to in real life, you could attend today. Did you also know that most college and universities keep their career sources available to all their alumni? So start making use of that. There's no time like now. And that's it. That's what's happening this week in civil engineering. You can find references to all the stories mentioned at twice.news. And if you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe to EMI's YouTube channel at youtube.com forward slash engineering careers. Remember to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, youtube.com for the video version. This is Kami Finley signing off and we'll see you next time.