Free Republic

This weekend’s planned power outages could be the largest yet in California, as utilities such as Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison order wide blackouts to prevent more blazes — and more wildfire liability — amid heavy, hot winds. PG&E, which has 5.4 million electric customers and provides power to 16 million Californians, was projecting Thursday that it could shut off power across nearly all of its territory in Northern California on Sunday and Monday because of ferocious gusts. “This system will likely be the strongest event of the year from a wind perspective,” the utility said on...

Four men including former PNCR Member of Parliament Abdul Kadir were yesterday charged by United States law enforcement officials with allegedly conspiring to blow up the John F Kennedy International airport as well as tanks storing aviation fuel and underground fuel pipelines. Those charged with Kadir are former JFK worker Russell Defreitas, a Guyanese-born US citizen; Kareem Ibrahim, an imam from Trinidad; and Guyanese Abdel Nur. Kadir and Ibrahim were arrested in Trinidad, while Defreitas was held in New York. Up to press time, however, Nur had not been apprehended and was thought to be still at large in Trinidad....

Who is buried in the Hoover Dam? The Hoover Dam is one of the most phenomenal structures in modern history. This 1244 feet long, 660 feet thick, and 726 feet high concrete behemoth holds back so much water that it deformed the earth's crust and caused 600 small earthquakes in the decade after its construction. Over 100 workers died constructing the Hoover Dam — and legend has it, some of them are buried within its concrete facade. Is there anything to these rumors? An enormous number of deaths - Over 100 people died in the construction of the Hoover Dam....

(KCPW News) Utah lawmakers took tips on highway funding from a Texas legislator this morning. Texas Republican Representative Mike Krusee joined them on Capitol Hill. He told the Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee that with federal money drying up, the only way to pay for new highways is to make them toll roads. "Guess how many roads pay for themselves in taxes? Zero. Not a one. Most of them are less than 50 percent," said Krusee. "Imagine if you're a grocery a store owner, and you decide, I'm gonna sell sirloin at a buck a pound, and I'm gonna sell...

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 8 — Investigators have found what may be a design flaw in the bridge that collapsed here a week ago, in the steel parts that connect girders, raising safety concerns for other bridges around the country, federal officials said on Wednesday. The Federal Highway Administration swiftly responded by urging all states to take extra care with how much weight they place on bridges of any design when sending construction crews to work on them. Crews were doing work on the deck of the Interstate 35W bridge here when it gave way, hurling rush-hour traffic into the Mississippi River...

A steam pipe explodes near Grand Central Terminal, a levee fails and floods New Orleans, a bridge collapses in Minneapolis. These disasters are an indication that this country is not investing enough in keeping its vital infrastructure in good repair, engineering experts warn. “Governments do not want to pay for maintenance because it is not sexy,” said John Ochsendorf, a structural engineer and an associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said the bulk of the nation’s highway system was built in the 1950s and 1960s and is ageing. Referring to the collapse in Minneapolis, he said “This type...

Experts studying the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina say the breach of key floodwalls might have been caused by soft soil under the walls, a problem the Army Corps of Engineers had been warned about. Engineers from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the University of California at Berkeley said Friday there was no evidence that the floodwaters surged over the tops of the floodwalls at 17th Street or London Avenue Canals, as previously thought. Instead, they said, soft soil may have given way underneath the walls - a danger a contracting company pointed out to the...

Today marks the 105th anniversary of the unnamed hurricane that destroyed this island city, killed somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people and inspired one of history’s most amazing feats of civil engineering. [. . .] . . . The highest house in the city was at an elevation between eight and nine feet. . . . By the peak of the storm, no part of the island remained dry. “In reality, there was no island, just the ocean with houses standing out of the waves which rolled between them,” [. . .] Pictures taken after the storm show empty streets....

It may be many weeks until all the water is removed from New Orleans. Before all the vital pumping stations can be reactivated, the city swamped by Hurricane Katrina has to be drained and its floodwalls and levees (embankments) repaired. Much of it was under 2.4 metres (8 feet) of water this week though the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) said the level seemed to be stabilising on Friday. The weather will largely dictate the speed of work and the hurricane season is predicted to run into October. Whether patching up a breached floodwall to keep water out or...

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma has conceded there will be some problems when the Sydney Cross-City Tunnel faces its first test of peak-hour traffic. Mr Iemma has officially opened the tunnel, cutting the ceremonial ribbon with the same scissors used for the opening of Harbour Bridge in 1932. After a walk-through by pedestrians this morning, the tunnel opens to cars late tonight. Mr Iemma says any traffic problems connected with the tunnel will be temporary. "I take the advice of the traffic engineers and the experts as to how they're working," he said. "There's a plan to manage the...

<p>MT. JEWETT, Pa. -- The Kinzua Viaduct is a rusted 3,300-ton testament to the Industrial Age once touted as an engineering marvel, the tallest and longest railroad bridge in the world. Without repairs, it may someday be only a memory.</p>