Civil Engineering

Ramses A Larabel

Lee High School

 The work civil engineers do can be seen from anywhere in the world. Civil engineers

construct buildings that reach to the sky, highways that stretch over miles of rugged terrain,

bridges that connect millions of people, and much more. As different generations inhabit the

earth, it will continue to develop. Civil engineering will have a huge and critical role in the

developing world. The profession will provide new and more advanced infrastructure that can

improve the earths population. To be a civil engineer and to play a part in the developing world,

has much meaning. Civil engineering use technology, the environment, and their skills to

design, create, or maintain infrastructures.

The use of certain technology can help civil engineers design, create, or maintain

infrastructures around the world. Technology can be as simple as a shovel or as advanced as a

supercomputer, but no matter how simplistic or advanced the technology is it all can be used to

help the environment. This can explain why concrete is the second most utilized substance in the

world, right under water. Concrete is one of the most versatile construction material, about 10

billion metric tons is produced every year. It is such a widely used product because of its unique

properties such as durability and high compressive strength (Mawo, Nathalie, et al). Alone

America will use tons of concrete to design highways and roads. Concrete cant just be put

anywhere, when civil engineers design roads they look at location, terrain, and soil properties.

An example of this is the road conditions in Louisiana because of their soft ground. Louisiana

has a current problem with sinkholes and not so much of potholes. Difference being that

sinkholes happen when a gap opens up underground, and potholes are deterioration on the

surface (Wendland). Many of the residents and the visitors have complained about them because

they are much more dangerous than potholes. Shown in a recent study, ranking Louisianas urban
and rural interstate conditions in the 40s compared to all states and ranked their highway

conditions at 40th (Hartgen). Louisiana bad roads has been a burden, with one of the worst fatal

road accident rate in the country (Hartgen). Paving concrete over sinking ground can cause many

problems, especially for roads, designing a plan before can help reduce those problems.

Our environment can inspire society and civil engineers to design, create, or maintain

infrastructures. With better technology becoming more available every day, we push certain

limits that the environment has put a cap on. This is what bridges do connecting us from two

points that were before separated by an obstacle. The current longest bridge is in Japan, but a

more recognizable bridge is the the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge also held the

record for longest bridge from 1937 to 1964. The Golden Gate Strait is a narrow passageway of

water that allowed the bridge to be built and connects the San Francisco City to the County of

Marin (FAQ Golden Gate Bridge). Without the Golden Gate Strait the bridge could have possibly

never be built because of how wide the other areas of water were to build over. The bridge was

already the longest bridge built at the time and if there was no strait, San Francisco would of had

to build a bridge bigger than any other bridge built today. However, this is not the case and many

people have saved countless hours of driving because of the bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge

would not have been possible to create if the environment didnt push for civil engineers to make

record breaking bridges.

Civil engineers have certain skills that most engineers dont have to either to design,

create, or maintain infrastructures. These skill that civil engineers acquire are usually through

some form of education like school, internships, or the job itself. Visual inspections are

emphasized in all three fields, and are used as the main form of maintaining bridges. According

to Aktan, Emin, et al, These efforts generally include a thorough documentation of visual
appearance guided by heuristics. Visual inspections are important with infrastructure because if

the individual make a wrong evaluation. That evaluation can lead to a infrastructure getting the

no or the wrong type of diagnosis, often leading to an infrastructure getting the improper type of

care (Aktan, Emin, et al). Which then can impact the Livability, Sustainability, and Resilience

(LSR). LSR is the livability, sustainability, and resilience of an infrastructure and all three affect

how well a infastructures maintains. Correct visual evaluations increase the LSR of all objects,

including bridges. Making the wrong decision can lead to serious damage, which is exactly what

happened in the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River in 1967, with a death total of

forty-six people (Aktan, Emin, et al). Making sure visual inspection are done right are critical for

the LSR of infrastructures and is a reason they are emphasized throughout a civil engineers

career.

Civil engineering has been a vital field of work for decades, and will only gain more

traction as the years come. It is important to realize that civil engineering plays such a big role in

todays world. Without civil engineers roads, buildings, bridges, and all types of infrastructures

couldnt get designed, created, or none of the existing ones could be maintained. So as the human

race continues to develop and grow, civil engineering will become more and more crucial. To do

their job civil engineers use technology, the environment, and their skills. Ultimately, being a

civil engineer can impact this world in a positive way.

 Aktan, Ahmet Emin, et al. "Leveraging Technology for Infrastructure Condition and

Performance Assessment." Frontiers in Built Environment, 2016. Academic OneFile,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE

%7CA475176894&it=r&asid=fdf73c4d0488164c375d6e914757f8a0. Accessed 16 Apr.

2017.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Golden Gate Bridge. Golden Gate Bridge,

goldengatebridge.org/research/facts.php#where. Accessed 16 Apr. 2017.

Hartgen, David. 21st Annual Highway Report's State-By-State Results. Reason

Foundation, 18 Sept. 2014, reason.org/studies/show/21st-annual-highway-report-states#LA.

Accessed 15 Apr. 2017.

Mawo, Nathalie S, et al. Performance of self-Compacting concrete made with hydraulic lime as

filler. Journal of Civil Engineering and Construction Technology, Academic Journal, 11

Nov. 2017, www.academicjournals.org/journal/JCECT/article-full-text-pdf/DF652CB63404.

Accessed 13 Apr. 2017.

Wendland, Tegan. Sinkholes: A Part Of Daily Life In New Orleans. WWNO, New Orleans

Public Radio, 1 Aug. 2016, wwno.org/post/sinkholes-part-daily-life-new-orleans. Accessed

15 Apr. 2017.