Marc Basnight Bridge opened
Marc Basnight Bridge is a 2.8-mile-long bridge that cost $252 million. The bridge received the Deep Foundation Institute's Outstanding Project Award in 2019 due to the bridge's innovative foundation, designed to withstand extreme bridge scour.
Robert V. Whitman died
On this day in 2012, the geotechnical engineering community lost Robert V. "Bob" Whitman, a pioneer in soil dynamics, seismic hazard analysis, and foundation engineering. Over his distinguished career, he spent 36 years on the faculty at MIT's School of Engineering, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1975, and received numerous honors from the American Society of Civil Engineers. His contributions to the field earned him the 1962 Huber Prize, the 1981 Terzaghi Lecture, the 1987 Karl Terzaghi Award, the 1994 Croes Medal, and the 2006 Seed Lecture. He also co-authored the widely respected textbook Soil Mechanics with Bill Lambe. Bob’s legacy continues to shape geotechnical engineering, and he is deeply missed.
Princess Tower construction started
The 101-story, 413.4 m (1,356 ft) tall residential-only skyscraper is located in the Marina district of Dubai, UAE. Princess Tower was the tallest residential building in the world from 2012 to 2015, when it was overtaken by 432 Park Avenue in New York City.
Vienna U-Bahn opened
The Vienna U-Bahn, where U-Bahn is an abbreviation of the German word Untergrundbahn (English: underground railway), is a rapid transit system serving Vienna, Austria. The five-line network consists of 83.1 kilometers (51.6 mi) of route, serving 109 stations. 459.8 million passengers rode the U-Bahn in 2019. The network is undergoing expansion and rolling stock renewal. Since 1969, 200 million euros have been invested annually in the extension of the Vienna U-Bahn.
First Anderson shelter constructed
As part of British air raid precautions, the first of 2.5 million Anderson shelters is constructed in a garden in Islington, north London. They were either buried 4 ft (1.2 m) deep in the soil and then covered with a minimum of 15 inches (38 cm) of soil above the roof or in some cases installed inside people's houses and covered with sandbags.
Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy died
French archaeologist and civil engineer Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy was noted for his excavations at Susa (modern-day Shush, Iran) in 1885 and for his five-volume work, L'Art antique de la Perse. A graduate civil engineer from the Ecole Polytechnique, Dieulafoy led the excavations at Susa, succeeded in discovering numerous objects and partially excavating the great central columned hall (the Apadana).
Uptown Hudson Tubes opened
The Uptown Hudson Tubes are a pair of tunnels that carry PATH trains between Manhattan, New York City, to the east and Jersey City, New Jersey, to the west. The Uptown Hudson Tubes measure 5,500 feet (1,700 m), or 5,650 feet (1,720 m) between shafts. The tubes descend as far as 97 feet (30 m) below mean river level. In both the uptown and downtown tubes, each track is located in its own tunnel. A trial run, carrying a party of officials, dignitaries, and news reporters, ran on February 15, 1908. The first "official" passenger train, which was also open only to officials and dignitaries, left 19th Street on February 25, 1908, at 3:40 p.m., and arrived at Hoboken Terminal ten minutes later. The tubes opened to the general public at midnight the next day.
