Engineering Projects

▪ 1995

Introduction

BRIDGES

       Notable Engineering Projects(For Notable Engineering Projects in work, see Table (Notable Engineering Projects).)

      As the decade of the 1990s reached its midpoint, the limits to bridge design were being stretched both for main spans and for the total lengths of crossing. Multiple-span bridges of up to 60 km (1 km = 0.62 mi) in length were proposed for sea and estuary crossings, and several of about 20 km were under construction.

      Nonetheless, it was in Europe, at France's Pont de Normandie, that the limits of engineering were challenged in 1994. When its central 856-m (1 m = 3.3 ft) cable-stayed span was completed in midyear, it increased by 40% the world record for this type of structure. The bridge was due to open to road traffic early in 1995, linking Le Havre westward along France's north coast over the Seine estuary.

      Dramatic advances bring problems, and much-feared vibration effects were noted in the nearly completed bridge in steady wind conditions. Special spring dampers had already been necessary to stabilize the lightweight-steel central deck during the erection of its sections, and now permanent shock absorbers were being fitted. These attached to the 24 longest cables to quell "ripple vibrations" visible along the cables in wind. There were also special cross-connecting wires between cables, another unusual feature of the bridge.

      The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan was beginning to show its enormous size as the 230-m-high twin steel towers were completed, dwarfing tankers and other vessels passing through the Akashi Strait. The diagonally braced towers were to start receiving the cables that would eventually suspend a 1,990-m-long central span, easily the longest in the world, upon the bridge's completion in 1998. The Store Bælt (Great Belt) suspension bridge, planned to have a world-record central span of 1,624 m, was part of a major rail and road bridge-and-tunnel link joining Denmark's islands to mainland Jutland. Huge concrete caissons sunk in the sea in 1993 between Zealand Island and a small island, Sprogo, were filled with concrete and by the end of 1994 supported the rising concrete shape of the main piers for the bridge as well as its anchor blocks. Cable spinning for the bridge was scheduled to begin in 1995.

      Another world record was expected to be established earlier in Hong Kong, where the British were racing to finish a new airport on Landao (Lantau) Island before they handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. Linking the airport to Hong Kong itself were to be two major bridges: the Kap Shui Mun, a 430-m cable-stayed main span with concrete piers that had begun to rise in 1994, and the Tsing Ma suspension bridge. Both were twin-decked, carrying a six-lane expressway above and a double-track rail link below, with additional road lanes, making the 1,377-m span of the Tsing Ma the longest double-deck bridge in the world. Designed to resist typhoon winds, it would also be the heaviest. Dramatic cable-spinning operations to form the 1.1-m-diameter cables were about half complete as 1994 ended.

      China was the location of much bridge-building activity, with an 888-m suspension bridge going up across the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) at Humen, a 400-m cable-stay bridge in central Wuhan across the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River), and a 900-m central span suspension bridge for the Three Gorges power-generation dam project, also across the Chang Jiang. The Yangpu Bridge, completed at the end of 1993 in Shanghai, at 602 m was the world's longest cable-stay.

      Japan was also venturing into very long crossings, having already completed two multibridge links between the islands of Honshu and Shikoku, with the Akashi part of a third. Japan was also considering a 42-km structure across the La Perouse Strait from its northern island, Hokkaido, to Russia's Sakhalin Island. A second seven-kilometre bridge would link Sakhalin to the mainland.

      Other major projects included Portugal's second Tagus River crossing at Lisbon. With three major viaducts and a central cable-stay bridge, it was to total 18 km in length. In Bangladesh work began on the 4.8-km Jamuna multipurpose cable bridge. In both these projects huge and very deep piles were required for coping with deep soft ground.

      Wider bridges were also a feature of the 1990s. In Cologne, Germany, extra width was created for the 567-m-long Rodenkirchen suspension bridge. A third pier with a third cable was added to broaden the bridge from four road lanes to six plus two cycle lanes. (ADRIAN LEE GREEMAN)

      This updates the article bridge.

BUILDINGS

       Notable Engineering Projects(For Notable Engineering Projects in work, see Table (Notable Engineering Projects).)

      The new Kansai International Airport in Japan was opened in September 1994, marking the completion of one of the world's most ambitious construction projects. The airport complex was situated on a 4.5 x 2.5-km man-made island 5 km offshore in Osaka Bay. It included a railway station, shopping centre, and maintenance hangars, among other facilities, but it was the main terminal building for which the airport was best known. This building was commissioned on the basis of an international architectural competition held in 1988, and the result was a tribute to international cooperation. A central area comprising arrival and departure halls, baggage handling, and concessions measured 300 x 160 m. The aircraft were parked on either side of two 700-m-long fingers extending beyond the central area, giving a total length of 1.7 km. The most obvious feature of the terminal building was its roof, which stretched across the 160-m expanse and included an 80-m clear-span asymmetrical arch. The arch comprised triangular tubular trusses, supported on splayed column legs. The cladding envelope had strips of top glazing parallel to the trusses, and there were huge 20-m-high curved-glass facades facing the airside of the terminal.

      The air-conditioning for the new airport terminal comprised a large-scale system for background climate control augmented by small systems around the check-in desks, waiting areas, and the like. The large system involved blowing air more than 80 m across the uninterrupted main span. In order for this to be achieved, the tendency of a jet of air to cling to a surface was utilized. The shape of the arched roof was especially designed to suit the path of the trajectory of air from a nozzle in free space and was intended to ensure the adequate mixing of cool and warm air without the forming of downdrafts.

      Another interesting engineering feature concerned foundation conditions. The seabed was underlain by soft alluvial clay that consolidated under load by the gradual squeezing out of water from the weight of the island and its buildings. During the construction of the artificial island, vertical sand drains through the alluvial clay were formed to allow more rapid drainage and, therefore, accelerate the consolidation process. Nevertheless, long-term settlement was still expected, and for this reason the entire building was arranged to permit future adjustment of level by the jacking of each column position.

      The world's tallest buildings in 1994 were being built in Asia. The Sears Tower in Chicago, at 443 m in height, was about to be exceeded by both the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Chongqing Tower in Chongqing (Chungking), China, at 450 m and 460 m, respectively. The Petronas Towers project comprised two step-tapered towers clad in stainless steel and glass, circular in plan. The towers were to be linked to one another by a bridge at the 44th floor. The Chongqing project was a single 114-story building, partly offices and partly hotel. These two developments were planned for completion in 1996 and 1997, respectively.

      At Manchester, England, a velodrome (cycle track) was completed, and construction of an associated arena with a seating capacity of 16,500 was well under way. This was being built on the site of the Victoria railway station, which formerly had 17 platforms and was the gateway to the north of England but had been converted to a commuter station with only four platforms. The station had to be remodeled to allow the arena to be built, and this work included the construction of a one-metre-thick transfer structure over the main station. This both protected the station during the construction and formed the base to one side of the arena structure.

      Noise from the trains into the arena was limited by sound-attenuation measures in the structure, and the railway track was supported on rubber antivibration mountings. The arena was oval in plan, with seating in two tiers of 16 rows each, formed in precast concrete. The roof spanned the full 104-m width and took the form of a series of bowstring girders. These were lattice-framed girders having a horizontal bottom member and a circular-arc top member, with vertical and diagonal bracing members between them.

      (GEOFFREY M. PINFOLD)

      This updates the article building construction.

DAMS

       Notable Engineering Projects(For Notable Engineering Projects in work, see Table (Notable Engineering Projects).)

      Throughout the world more than 1,100 dams exceeding 15 m in height were under construction in 1994, with about 350 being completed annually. Countries with the most dam construction under way were: China 275, Turkey 164, Japan 149, South Korea 109, and the U.S. 46.

      The construction of huge dams disrupts the natural surroundings. Not only do such dams affect the local river ecology, but their impact is much greater when they force thousands of river valley inhabitants to be relocated. In China the Three Gorges Dam on the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) would require the dislocation of more than 750,000 people. China prepared a plan to mitigate the impact by spreading the relocation moves over a 20-year period. The flooded narrow valley would be on average 1.1 km wide, only twice the width of the original river channel, and would be 600 km long. When completed, it would eliminate the disastrous floods that had taken many lives, make water available where none previously existed, provide an expanding fishing industry, and expand industries that would provide new employment.

      China's State Planning Committee announced the approval of 17 new hydroelectric projects, which were needed to add 20,000 MW to the industrial power network. Approximately 3,000 MW were added to the power system.

      The resettlement issue at Sardar Sarovar Dam in India was being muted by the increased employment it provided and by the expectation of irrigation and power benefits. It was designed to ensure water supply to 5,614 villages and 130 small towns that had suffered water shortages. Because of the lack of water, the area experienced crop losses valued at $200 million.

      In Ethiopia two dams were started to provide water for irrigation and to produce power to meet shortages. A dam on the Omo River was to be a 79-m-high rolled-compacted-concrete dam. Water would also be diverted through tunnels to another 80-m-high dam on the Den River. The project was designed to develop 270 MW of power.

      In former East Germany, which had 72 dams, an intensive program of rehabilitation was initiated, and work was begun on the Schmalwasser embankment dam, which at 81 m high was the region's tallest. A five-year program involving 17 dams was adopted.

      In Iran eight dams—Torog, Kardeh, Jiroft, Pishin, Chogakhov, Saveh, Khordad, and Barun—were completed under the five-year plan. These dams would furnish water for irrigation and supply the needs of cities. Twenty-two dams were under construction, and 19 were in the planning stage during the year.

      In France the environmentalists scored a victory by persuading the government to demolish a dam at Maisons Rouges on the Vienne River to allow passage of migratory salmon. A second dam at St. Etienne du Vigan on the Allier River was also considered for demolition. Peruca Dam in Croatia, damaged during the Balkan conflict, was undergoing rehabilitation. The major work involved the reconstruction of both ends of the dam and reinforcement of the damaged portion of the tunnels.

      The Vanch Dam in Tajikistan on the Pyandzh River failed after heavy rains, as did Belaya River Dam in Bashkortostan, a republic in the Russian Federation. The latter failed because the floodgates became inoperative and failed to release the incoming floodwaters. Some 55 people were reported missing, and about 150 houses were swept away. The dam was built in 1949. Several governments addressed the subject of dam safety by adopting regulations governing the design, construction, and maintenance of dams. Annual inspections required all floodgates to be operable and ready to release flood inflows when needed. Records of leakage were maintained, and many instruments were being added to monitor the dam behaviour in the interest of dam safety.

      (T.W. MERMEL)

      This updates the article dam.

ROADS

       Notable Engineering Projects(For Notable Engineering Projects in work, see Table (Notable Engineering Projects).)

      The Jan. 17, 1994, earthquake that hit Los Angeles had a devastating effect on the highway network of the world's most motorized city. Three major highways were closed by the collapse of a number of elevated sections. These included the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10), the busiest commuter road in the U.S., carrying more than 300,000 vehicles per day.

      Rebuilding efforts began immediately, with the California Department of Transportation providing for substantial bonuses to be paid for early completion and similar penalties for delays. The result was that many rebuilding projects were completed weeks ahead of schedule, bringing relief to drivers and boosting profits of contractors. Officials stated soon after the earthquake that they hoped most roads would be reopened before the end of the year. In fact, the reconstruction was largely completed by the summer. The total repair bill was estimated at $1.4 billion.

      New road-construction projects throughout the world were increasingly being financed and developed by private-sector companies instead of governments. A report by the International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association stated that, worldwide, 45,000 km of toll highways valued at $120 billion were planned.

      A new six-lane highway in Argentina, the Buenos Aires West Access toll road, was announced. The 23-km route would cost $115 million and would be scheduled to open in August 1996. This was one of many build-operate-transfer (BOT) road projects, which were to be constructed by private companies or consortia. The builders would then charge tolls for a concession period before handing ownership of the road over to the national government. BOT concessions typically lasted for 20-35 years.

      The first BOT highway in China was opened in July. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen (Canton-Shen-chen) superhighway was 120 km long and was built in only two years by a Hong Kong-based developer. The highway linked two of the fastest-growing urban areas in China and was built largely on elevated structures. The developer was also granted rights to property development along the highway's corridor, which was expected to provide more revenue than the actual road tolls.

      The contractual dispute that arose in 1993 between the government of Thailand and the Japanese-led consortium that had built an expressway in Bangkok was settled when the government took over the project. The experience led 23 international banks that had loaned $250 million to the project to withdraw their support and demand repayment of the money.

      The growth in toll-road projects was mirrored by developments in toll-collection technology. In Germany and France trials were under way to test systems that would allow motorists to be charged for road use without stopping at a conventional toll booth. Most of these systems used stored-value "smart cards" containing a computer chip; these were mounted in a transmitter unit. These cards would communicate with roadside hardware at high speed, recording transactions. This technology would also allow "congestion pricing," whereby motorists were charged higher tolls at busier times. Germany and the United Kingdom were planning to convert their expressways from free use to tolls.

      In response to growing congestion and pollution, the Swiss canton of Uri voted to ban all foreign truck traffic traveling through the Alps. Foreign trucks would be required to travel on railroad trains through the country.

      In order to discourage private motoring, a U.K. Royal Commission on transportation recommended that the government's $30 billion road-building program be abandoned and the money spent on developing public transportation. It also recommended that fuel prices be doubled. The government had previously announced a reappraisal of its road-building plans. (RUSS SWAN)

      This updates the article road (roads and highways).

TUNNELS

      Significant successes and serious setbacks characterized tunneling in 1994. Both of these situations were best illustrated on the troubled Store Bælt railway tunnel in Denmark, where the breakthrough of the first of the twin tube tunnels in October was overshadowed by a serious fire in the parallel tunnel in June. Fortunately, the fire did not cause any injury, but it did cause extensive damage to the tunnel-boring machine (TBM) as well as to a 10-m length of tunnel, particularly in the crown, where up to 300 mm (12 in) of the 400-mm (16-in)-thick precast concrete segmental lining was chipped away. The fire, suspected to have been caused by oil vapour escaping from a pinprick hole in a hydraulic hose, occurred when only 1% of the two 8-km tunnels remained to be bored and followed earlier problems, including mechanical difficulties, a devastating flood, and excessive wear of the cutting tools and TBM bodies. As a result, costs increased substantially, and completion was delayed by more than 12 months.

      Serious tunnel collapses occurred on two projects using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) in soft ground and clay. In Munich, Germany, in September, two tunnel workers and a woman passenger died when a bus fell into a hole created when NATM tunneling beneath the road for a new section of the Munich subway collapsed. A few weeks later in London, the collapse of an NATM excavation for an underground station on the high-speed rail-link project between Heathrow Airport and London's Paddington Station caused subsidence damage to an airport building and left a large hole in a main airport access road.

      After completion of only 480 m of the 1,800-m-long railway tunnel under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ont., and Port Huron, Mich., TBM excavation was halted so a bearing seal failure could be repaired before work under the river proceeded. The TBM was driven into a temporary shaft to remove the machine's cutting wheel and main bearing, causing a delay of a few months.

      Meanwhile, major engineering successes were being celebrated. On May 6 Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Pres. François Mitterrand of France inaugurated the Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel or, more popularly, "Chunnel") under the English Channel. Tunnels, bridges, and other means of spanning the narrow body of water that separates (or joins—see Seafaring and History in the English Channel ) England and continental Europe had been dreamed about for centuries. Construction of the 50-km project took six years, and the final cost was over £10 billion in privately raised funds. Three tunnels, two for rail traffic and a central service tunnel, were bored at an average depth of 40 m through the chalk layer underlying the Channel. Whatever else may have delayed full operation of the Eurotunnel for more than a year and a half, it was not tunnel excavation. The removal of the almost 8 million cu m (282.5 million cu ft) of material to create the total 151.5 km of tunnel was completed in June 1991, slightly ahead of schedule.

      In Lesotho the last of four TBMs working on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project broke through in October. More than 60 km of the total 82 km of five-metre-diameter tunneling required on the first phase of this massive project was completed by the four TBMs in Lesotho between February 1992 and October 1994. The project was designed to meet rapidly increasing demand for drinking water in the Johannesburg and Pretoria urban areas in South Africa.

      Record speeds of advance were achieved in Australia when a 3.4-m-diameter Robbins Mk 12 TBM used to excavate the 13.4-km tunnel for the Blue Mountains Sewage Transfer project west of Sydney excavated a remarkable 2,300 m of tunnel in a production month.

      Elsewhere, tunneling started beneath the centre of Paris to create the new Meteor Line of the Métro system. In Japan the first of eight huge 14.14-m-diameter soft-ground TBMs was launched on the Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway Project. In the U.S. tunneling continued on several projects, including the Los Angeles subway, the Dallas, Texas, light-rail system, the Boston Harbor sewer-tunnel project, and the Portland, Ore., light-rail system. (SHANI WALLIS)

      This updates the articletunnel (tunnels and underground excavations).

▪ 1994

Introduction

Bridges.

      At least five potential world-record holders were under construction in 1993. In Hong Kong the Tsing Ma Bridge, a double-decked road and rail suspension bridge, was well under way with slipforming of the giant 205-m-high concrete towers being completed and temporary cable beginning to be slung for the spinning of the giant steel cables that would span 1,377 m, the main part of the crossing between Kowloon and Lantau Island (1 m = 3.3 ft). The Tsing Ma would be the biggest two-level bridge in the world when complete but would not quite equal the record 1,410-m span of Britain's Humber Bridge.

      But the Humber's record would soon fall to the East Bridge section of Denmark's Store Bælt (Great Belt), a tunnel and double bridge crossing linking Copenhagen on Zealand, Denmark's main island, to the mainland. A huge 67-span prefabricated-concrete road bridge crosses 6.1 km (3.8 mi) of water, but a 6.6-km (4.1-mi) second section was needed for the eastern half, with a 1,624-m span single-deck suspension bridge in the middle. Huge caissons for foundations were floated in during the summer of 1993, and towers were scheduled to start rising soon.

      Store Bælt's world record was expected to be short-lived, as progress continued to be made on the Akashi-Kaikyo suspension bridge in Japan, which was to have a 1,990-m main span. Work began on deepwater caisson foundations in 1988, and by late 1993 the 297-m-high steel towers had been completed. The vast $2.4 billion structure would break the world record at its scheduled opening in 1998.

      Meanwhile, the battle was on for the longest cable-stay bridge. The suspension bridge, in which cables are slung from tower to tower, supporting the bridge deck on vertical hangers, was the only engineering form for very long bridges, but the cable-stay design was catching up. During the past two decades its simplicity and elegance found favour worldwide, especially for middle-length bridges.

      A cable-stay bridge is supported directly from the towers, using many cables that usually fan out from the tower or are strung back to it in a harp shape. Well-known examples include Florida's new Sunshine Skyway; the Vancouver (B.C.) Alex Fraser Bridge, at just over 465 m the former world record holder; and the Hamburg harbour bridge in Germany.

      China in 1993 was beginning to show that it, like the rest of the Pacific Rim, was not only catching up but overtaking the world in cable-stay bridge construction. A bridge of more than 400 m in Shanghai was joined in the autumn by the opening of the Yangpu Bridge, across the Huang Pu (Huang-p'u) River, with a dramatic 602-m main span that established a new world record for length. The design was by the Shanghai Engineering Design Institute.

      Because the loads in a cable-stay bridge are carried directly onto the towers, the latter have to be higher than those in a suspension bridge; this becomes a problem near airports. But cable stays do not require huge shoreside anchorage points as do suspension bridges, which take loads back along the cables to the ground. This consideration was critical for the Pont de Normandie in northern France because the Seine estuary outside Le Havre has no high sides for anchorages. Thus, the bridge has a cable-stay design with an 856-m central clear span, a new record length. Inverted Y-shaped towers more than 200 m high were completed for the bridge, which was to have a very slim deck. This would be in a stiff concrete near the towers but then would employ lightweight steel of high tensile strength to help achieve the enormous length of the central span.

      The Pont de Normandie's record length would soon be topped by a new cable-stay bridge in Japan, between the main island of Honshu and densely populated Shikoku. The Tatara Bridge was under construction but was not expected to be completed until 1999. It was to have an 890-m central span.

      Among other bridges being planned was a high cable-stay bridge that would form the centre of the 16.2-km (10-mi) crossing of the Øresund between Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden. But the crossings of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, and the estuary of the Río de la Plata in Argentina were the projects that set the blood running. The Messina crossing, with a 3,300-m main span, was already in the design phase.

      Proposals for a 2,000-m bridge spanning the Izmit Gulf of the Sea of Marmara in Turkey might result in a hybrid, fusing cable stay with suspension. The sections near the towers would have cables, and the middle would be suspended.

      Finally, in Scotland a small cable-stay footbridge might indicate the way forward. The 63-m-main-span bridge over the River Tay at Aberfeldy Golf Club was made entirely of lightweight composites. (ADRIAN LEE GREEMAN)

Buildings.

      The continued expansion of the French Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) high-speed rail network and the linking of the British network into that of mainland Europe by the Channel Tunnel was leading to some impressive rail station buildings. During the year the final phase of the rail station at the Satolas international airport in Lyon, France, was begun. The platforms were below ground, but the roof was designed to let as much natural light as possible onto the platforms and walkways. This was achieved by an elegant white concrete lattice supported on rows of tapering columns. Elongated diamond-shaped skylights set in the lattice allowed daylight in. The station extended for 400 m along the straight track, and concrete poured at the site was chosen in preference to precast concrete to keep the number of joints to a minimum and thereby enhance the visual aspects of the construction. At the centre of the platforms was a 26-m-high waiting room, a giant gliding birdlike structure in structural steel supported at three points.

      In the U.K. the new Waterloo international rail terminal in London was completed. In contrast to Satolas, the superstructure was made of steel. The roof spanned a width of up to 48.5 m over five tracks and their associated platforms. Because of the plan layout and headroom requirement, an asymmetrical structure was necessary. It took the form of a three-pinned arch, made up of two bowstring trusses pinned at a crown that was offset from the centre. On the long span stainless steel decking was used, and this was placed on the outer surface of the trusses.

      Construction activity was being generated by the prospect of the Olympic Games for the year 2000. Though the choice of Sydney, Australia, as the site for the Games was not announced until 1993, two of the new stadiums and associated sports halls were already under construction there, and four more were to follow. These types of buildings provided opportunities for interesting and innovative engineering solutions. For example, the water sports centre, designed to accommodate up to 12,500 spectators, had a latticed-vault diagonal roof supported by columns along one side and a long-span arch on the other to provide uninterrupted views of the main pool. The athletics centre had a cable-stayed roof suspended from two latticed steel towers that were guyed back to the ground outside the stadium.

      Another contender for the Olympics had been Manchester, England, where a city centre sports arena and velodrome (cycling track) were under construction and would continue to be built even though the city lost its bid for the Games. The velodrome had a particularly interesting roof structure. A trussed steel arch with a span of 122 m extended along the centre of the building like a spine and was formed by two 4.5-m-deep lattices 21 m apart and braced by secondary lattices. Steel roof trusses with spans of up to 42 m carried the roof between the spine arch and columns at the side of the building.

      The development of the Passagen site in the former East Berlin was challenging foundation engineers. Berlin had traditionally used mainly shallow foundations because of its sandy soil and high water table. The new development was to have a maximum of seven stories above ground but a basement 15 m deep. This presented problems of side support and stability of the excavation during construction. In order for the stability of the bottom of the excavation to be controlled, slurry diaphragm walls had to be built around the entire 900-m perimeter of the site down to 50 m below ground. Because of the high soil pressures on the wall after excavation had taken place, steel sheet piling was inserted in the top 20 m of the wall. Once the 1.2-m-thick concrete floor of the excavation had been completed, it was anchored by several hundred vertical ground anchors.

      Turning to foundations of an older building, the second stage of temporary measures to stabilize the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italy) began. A concrete ring had been cast around the base, and this was being loaded on the uptilted side with lead weights to encourage settlement. Adjacent to the tower field trials were being made of methods of controlling the settlement. The tower was built on clay, and when water is removed from clay it shrinks. One method of control involved passing an electrical direct current through the soil, causing the water to migrate toward the anode, thus removing it from the cathode area. This would allow settlement to be selectively located according to the disposition of the electrodes. (GEOFFREY M. PINFOLD)

Dams.

       Major World Dams Under Construction in 1993*(For a comparison of major world dams under construction, see Table (Major World Dams Under Construction in 1993*).) To meet its population needs, China in 1993 had more than 50 large dams in various stages of construction and was adding more each year. Its expansion was directed toward energy development, to support its economic expansion. China also developed a program of providing small dams in remote undeveloped areas, not connected to its national power grid, to help to improve the living standards and to provide energy for the development of local enterprises. By 1993 there were more than 60,000 of these small plants, with a total capacity of more than 14,000 MW.

      China's Manwan Dam on the Lancang Jiang (Lan-ts'ang River) was commissioned during the year. It was a 132-m-high gravity-type dam with a generating capacity of 1,250 MW. There were plans to install an additional 22,000 MW at 14 projects on the river. The first of these was to be the Dachaoshan Dam with 1,260 MW. China announced its program for the Three Gorges Dam on the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River). Work started on access roads and electricity to the site. Between 1996 and 1999 work was to begin on the diversion of the river, and by 2005 work would be in progress on the main dam. About 750,000 people would need to be resettled from the reservoir area.

      India was proceeding with its Narmada River project, which included the controversial Sardar Sarovar Dam. Because of World Bank requirements for India to mitigate ecological problems, the government withdrew requests for World Bank support; India sought funding from other sources and affirmed its commitment to the project. (See National Developments: India (Environment ).)

      India also was expanding developments on the upper reaches of the Ganges River, where the flow from the Himalayan mountains offered the potential for vast energy developments. The 204-m-high Lakhwar Dam, with 300 MW of capacity, was nearing completion, and the Tehri Dam, under construction on the Bhagirathi River (a Ganges tributary), would develop 1,000 MW and provide for irrigation of more than 600,000 ha (1,480,000 ac).

      Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) agreed to develop eight dams along their common border rivers. The project would develop more than 6,400 MW and require an investment of $5 billion. Preliminary studies were under way.

      In South Africa the government initiated construction of its second rolled-compacted-concrete (RCC) dam, the Taung Dam on the Hartz River. The dam would be 58 m high and 320 m long and have a volume content of 140,000 cu m (1 cu m = 35.3 cu ft). In Lesotho the Highlands project, in which water from Lesotho would be transferred to South Africa to support the continuing industrial expansion, was nearing completion. The Katse Dam and several reservoirs would store the water, to be transferred by means of tunnels more than 90 km (55 mi) in length.

      The Egyptian government released a study of the benefits brought about by the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The study's conclusions were that the dam eliminated all fears of floods and reassured the availability of water releases for downstream agriculture. Industries opened up to produce iron and steel, fertilizer, brick, granite, and marble. Fish production from Lake Nasser, which was formed by the dam, represented 17-25% of the total fish production of Egypt, about 30 to 35 tons. More than 140,000 ha (345,000 ac) of land were placed under irrigation. Moreover, tourism expanded from 105,000 in 1962 to 750,000 in 1992.

      In Poland construction was being resumed at the Czorsztyn Dam near Krakow, which had been under construction for 20 years. Environmental problems arose because surrounding towns did not have adequate sewage-treatment plants and the reservoir water was in danger of eutrophication (increase in the amount of dissolved nutrients that stimulate the growth of aquatic plants, resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen) if the pollutant inflow was not stopped. Pressure was applied to meet pollution-control standards, and the towns agreed to install modern sewage-treatment plants.

      In Germany the Vohburg Dam on the Danube River was inaugurated. It was designed to generate 24 MW of power. Elsewhere in Europe, five large dams under construction in Greece would provide 750 MW, and Turkey reported that it had 150 dams in various stages of construction.

      The Peruca Dam in Croatia, a 65-m-high embankment dam completed in 1960, was sabotaged by Serb rebels who placed 15 tons of explosives in the embankment. The Croatians quickly drained the dam to prevent it from failing. Thousands of people were evacuated from the valley after being alerted to the possible dam failure.

      The Spanish government canceled construction of two dams because of objections from environmentalists. Both were located in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. The fate of the wild bears living there was an issue.

      The governments of Argentina and Paraguay agreed on a plan to develop the Corpus Posadas project, which had a potential of 4,800 MW, on the Paraná River. The project involved two power plants with eight 300-MW units on each side of the river. The main purpose of the project was energy production and river navigation.

      In Canada a number of dams under construction in Quebec, as part of the La Grande project, would add 5,000 MW. The Coboraca Dam in Mexico was commissioned after 10 years of construction. It had a reservoir capacity of 45 million cu m and would provide irrigation water to 2,100 ha (5,200 ac) of previously arid land.

      In the U.S. more than 50 dams were under construction. Much effort was being placed on improving the safety of dams and increasing their capacities and benefits with minimum impact on the environment. The New Waddell Dam was completed in Arizona on the Agua Fria River. An earth and rock-fill dam 111 m high and 1,460 m long, it would have a 45-MW plant to be used for peaking for the Arizona power grid system. (T.W. MERMEL)

Roads.

      The worldwide movement toward charging motorists for the use of roads continued, with the construction of new toll roads, the application of tolls to previously free roads, and trials of "road pricing" systems under which charges are levied according to the time of day and the level of congestion on a road. Plans were announced for the first privately owned toll road in Russia. The 1,000-km superhighway would connect Moscow to Minsk, Belarus, and the Polish border (1 km = 0.62 mi). Toll expressways were also under construction or planned for a number of other Central and Eastern European countries, notably Hungary.

      Brazil announced that it would allow private investment in road building and maintenance for the first time in order to improve the condition of the country's roads. Up to $1.5 billion would be needed over three years to repair 6,000 km of roads. Argentina, which had previously privatized some expressways, announced the further privatization of three radial highways in Buenos Aires. The first toll expressway in Mexico's National Highway Plan, connecting Cuernavaca to Acapulco, was completed. The 263-km route had been under construction since 1989.

      A new six-lane toll highway north of Toronto was to be financed by the private sector. The project was scheduled for completion in 1996 but would have taken almost 20 years without toll revenue.

      In Bangkok, Thailand, a new city centre expressway was seized by the government after a contractual dispute with the Japanese-led construction consortium. The road was to be financed by toll revenues but, as construction approached completion, the government announced that the toll rate would be only 20 baht instead of the 30 baht originally agreed upon. Bangkok was widely regarded as having some of the worst traffic jams in the world.

      The growth in toll roads was accelerated by the economic difficulties being experienced in many countries and, in some cases, by decades of underinvestment in road construction and maintenance. A report published by the International Road Federation showed, however, that even without new tolls governments already made profits from road-related taxation. The report showed that in 18 European countries the combined revenue from vehicle, fuel, and usage taxes was three times the amount spent on road construction and maintenance.

      A report by the World Health Organization revealed that almost two-thirds of fatal road accidents occurred in less developed countries, while deaths in industrialized countries had declined by 20% from the previous decade. The world's worst accident record was in Ethiopia, with 150 deaths per 10,000 vehicles. This compared with 2.5 deaths per 10,000 vehicles in the U.S., the world's most motorized country.

      Major road-construction programs were announced in several countries. Thailand planned to embark on a seven-year highway-construction plan valued at $1.7 billion, almost half of which would be allocated to the construction of the 893-km Highway 4. China announced plans to construct a new network of highways to connect its major cities; the country had more than one million kilometres of roads, but this was not enough to cope with the expanding demand. In Sweden a 10-year infrastructure program, including the construction of 700 km of new expressways, was valued at $14 billion. Some 7,300 km of highway were planned to link the countries of the Maghreb Union in North Africa (Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya). The Maghreb Motorway was to be built over a 30-year period and might be connected to Europe by a crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar. More than $6 billion of road and bridge projects were announced in Turkey, including 1,200 km of new highways.

      In the U.S., massive flooding of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers caused widespread damage to roads and bridges throughout the Midwest. Most damage was caused by gravel foundations being loosened and washed away by the floodwaters.

      The British government suffered a significant defeat on environmental grounds when it was forced to abandon plans to build a new road through the 8,000-year-old Oxleas Wood in South London. Construction of another environmentally sensitive project in Britain, the extension of the M3 motorway through Twyford Down, continued despite vociferous and violent protests. (RUSS SWAN)

Tunnels.

      The largest man-made underground cavern ever built for public use opened in May in Norway. With a freestanding roof span of 62 m, the 91-m-long and 35-m-high underground ice hockey arena at Gjøvik would seat more than 5,000 spectators and was built by Norway for the 1994 winter Olympic Games. Engineers created the cavern by removing some 140,000 cu m (4,944,100 cu ft) of gneiss rock from inside the mountain and supporting the roof with shotcrete reinforced with steel fibres and with more than 3,000 rock bolts and twin-strand cable bolts up to 6 m and 12 m long, respectively. Rock movement was monitored continuously during the drill-and-blast excavation, and settlement of the 62-m-wide roof was recorded at a maximum of 8 mm (0.31 in).

      Construction on the Neue Eisenbahn Alpen Transversale (NEAT) railway tunnels project in Switzerland began with a 5-km-long and 5.2-m-diameter exploratory gallery designed to optimize geologic investigation studies. Several long tunnels totaling more than 115 km were planned for the overall NEAT project. The longest, at more than 50 km, was to be beneath the St. Gotthard Pass, with another of 38 km on the Berne-Lötschberg-Simplon line. The tunnels would pass a maximum of 2,500 m under the massive formation of the Alps and be excavated by the most advanced of full-face, hard-rock tunnel-boring machine (TBM) technology.

      The Robbins Co. of Kent, Wash., a leader in the early design and continued development of full-face TBM technology, merged with the Altas Copco group of Sweden, also involved in the design and manufacture of tunneling machines. The merger provided Robbins with a stronger financial base and consolidated the TBM manufacturing industry, in which other major suppliers included Herrenknecht and Wirth of Germany, Lovat of Canada, Howden of the U.K., and Kawasaki, Mitsubishi, IHI, and other large companies in Japan.

      Full-face TBMs were applied on two unusual projects during 1993. In Arizona a 4.62-m-diameter Robbins TBM started excavation of more than 10 km of access tunnels on different levels for the development of the San Manuel Mine for the Magma Copper Co. In Sweden a 5-m-diameter Atlas Copco TBM was ordered to excavate a 420-m-long test tunnel at the underground nuclear waste research laboratory on the island of Äspö off the east coast.

      In Japan the first of eight 14.1-m-diameter soft-ground TBMs was factory tested before delivery to its site in Tokyo, where it was to work on the ambitious Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway. The 15-km highway comprised twin 10-km tunnels, some 15 m beneath the bed of the bay, to one of two man-made islands; from there it passed to the opposite landfall on a 5-km bridge. The tunnels in this seismically active zone were lined with precast concrete segments, which on some of the TBMs would be put in place by a fully automatic segment erector system.

      Tunneling on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project in southern Africa advanced past the halfway mark, with more than 50 km of the 82-km tunnel network completed by mid-November 1993. Most of it was excavated by five TBMs of about five metres in diameter.

      An original opening date of May 1993 for the Channel Tunnel between France and England was postponed to March 7, 1994. This delay was incurred despite the fact that all 147 km of tunneling required for forming the undersea rail link was completed in mid-1991, earlier than scheduled. Car-ferry operators were reportedly preparing to lower their fares in anticipation of the opening.

      Tunneling on the final link of the three-metre-diameter London Water Ring Main project was completed in February, nine months ahead of schedule. Record-breaking rates of advance were achieved, the best being 501 m in 10 consecutive shifts of 10 hours each, achieved by a Lovat TBM working through stable London clay geology and erecting a nonbolted expanded wedge block lining of precast concrete segments. When fully operational, the 80-km loop of the Ring Main would supply more than 1.3 billion litres (343.2 million gal) of drinking water per day to consumers.

      Work on the Superconducting Super Collider project in Waxahachie, Texas, one of the largest tunneling projects in the world and certainly the largest tunneling project in the U.S., was stopped in late 1993. Continued federal funding for the 87-km underground particle accelerator was rejected by the House of Representatives and the Senate as one of several initiatives by the Clinton administration to control the huge public-spending deficit in the U.S. The rejection of further funding came in October, by which time more than $2 billion had been invested in the project and some 24 km of tunnel had been completed. (SHANI WALLIS)

      This updates the articles building construction; bridge; dam; road (roads and highways); tunnel (tunnels and underground excavations).

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