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Geotechnical News • March 2013
www.geotechnicalnews.com
ASFE NEWS
ment Consultants Ltd / 15 Havelock
Road corner Porter Drive / Have-
lock North, 4130 New Zealand / tel:
6468771652 / http://www.rdcl.co.nz/)
Our new
ASFE Faculty Member is
Muhannad T. Suleiman, Ph.D.
an
assistant professor of geotechnical
engineering in Lehigh University’s
department of civil and environmental
engineering. Dr. Suleiman has had 37
peer-reviewed journal and conference
papers published with another five
being under review. And that doesn’t
include the 46 conference papers,
invited presentations, and research
reports also to his credit.
(Muhannad
T. Suleiman, Ph.D. / Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering /
Lehigh University / 326 STEPs Build-
ing / 1 W Packer Avenue / Bethlehem,
PA 18015 / tel: 610-758-2592 / fax:
610-758-5856 / e-mail: mts210@
lehigh.edu).
Too big to fall
“On August 1, 2007, the I-35W Bridge
in Minneapolis collapsed during rush
hour, killing 13 people and injuring
145. The bridge had been designated
as structurally deficient, due to insuf-
ficient maintenance,
and
fracture
critical,
because the failure of a single
component could result in the failure
of the entire structure. These designa-
tions are not unique. There are 7,980
other bridges in the U.S. that have
been designated structurally deficient
and fracture critical. These bridges are
still in use in communities across the
U.S. today and pose a danger to the
public unless they are soon remedi-
ated.
“Since the I-35W Bridge’s collapse,
other dangerous bridges have been
identified and closed. As recently as
September 8, 2011, inspectors closed
the I-64 Sherman Minton Bridge
carrying six lanes of traffic across
the Ohio River between Louisville,
Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana.
This bridge like the I-35W Bridge
was designated as fracture critical and
was rated by inspectors as structur-
ally deficient. It could have collapsed
had serious cracks in the bridge not
been discovered. While the Sherman
Minton Bridge was closed in time,
similarly designed bridges remain
open.”
...the failure of a
single component
could result in the
failure of the entire
structure...
So begins the home page of Save
our Bridges
(http://saveourbridges.
com/),
created by Barry B. LePatner,
attorney and author of
Too Big to Fall:
America’s Failing Infrastructure and
the Way Forward
(University Press of
New England, 2010), What’s really
special about the website is the
Save
Our Bridges interactive map.
It allows
the people to easily locate bridges
in their area that Federal Highway
Administration and/or state transporta-
tion agencies have classified as both
structurally deficient and fracture
critical. The intention of the map is to
raise public awareness of the state of
America’s infrastructure by pinpoint-
ing hazards close to home.
How many people in your community
know that the bridges they use every
day may be on that map? And if the
bridges are there, who would be in a
good position to advise them about
the hazard and what they could try to
do to get it eliminated? Could that be
you? Of course it could be, as long as
you don’t mind being regarded as an
informed, concerned professional who
wants to make fellow citizens aware
of what’s been going on. As usual, it’s
not a matter of could. What’s really at
issue is should and would.
Professional selling
Editor’s Note: This “Professional
Selling” tip was submitted by ASFE
NewsLog’s intrepid “Grape Press”
tasting crew.
Most folks have a passion for one
thing or another, ranging anywhere
from mountain climbing to spelunk-
ing; from opera to football. What
are the passions of your firm’s client
representatives? You should know,
because that gives you the opportunity
to strike up a conversation, send rel-
evant clippings, or purchase a Christ-
mas or birthday gift geared specifically
to the individual (as opposed to a
one-size-fits-all turkey or ham). What
about wine? Our experience has been
that most folks like it, and many love
it. While they may not be passionate
about it, many are eager to learn, since
learning requires tasting. Do your
client reps like wine? We bet at least
some do. And we also bet that they’d
be eager to attend a weekly, biweekly,
or monthly wine tasting sponsored by
your firm. While many approaches
are popular (see this issue’s
Grape
Press
column), one of the simplest is
just to gather an array of wines from
the same year and region, like Bor-
deaux, Malbec from Argentina, Shiraz
from Australia, and so on, then let
people taste and grade on their own. It
wouldn’t hurt that your own person-
nel would enjoy it, too, and that you’d
give client reps something to look
forward to on a regular basis…as long
as they keep retaining your firm, of
course!
How many of your local client repre-
sentatives like wine? You really should
know.