Photo Credit: Alex Mead
What you are looking at is the Oakland, California airport control tower. Control towers at airports are typically raised up considerably above the terminal and other buildings to allow the controllers to see the entire airport.
Photo Credit: Alex Mead
Pictured above is the Sixth Street Bridge in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It spans the Grand River and was built in 1886 using wrought iron. The bridge is made up of four Pratt trusses on stone piers and is the longest and oldest metal bridge in Michigan. When this bridge was built it cost a whopping $31,000!
Photo Credit: Alex Mead
Seen here is a classic railroad track from anywhere in the United States. Trains’ ability to move vast amounts of cargo very efficiently across large distances make them very desirable for cross country shipping. Civil engineering systems, such as bridges and roads, are crucial to keep these mega machines moving. Without bridges, retaining structures, and access roads the rail system in the United States would grind to a screeching halt. As high speed rail systems are built in America the rail infrastructure will undoubtedly change and grow over the coming years and decades.
Photo Credit: Alex Mead
This is a steel rail road bridge over the Huron River in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It has concrete piers which is typical of bridges of this type. Concrete is excellent in compression, widely available throughout the world, and relatively affordable. For these reasons concrete is used for many civil engineering applications.
Photo Credit: Alex Mead
Featured above is a brick road. Common throughout the world before the large spread use of concrete and asphalt, they can still be seem in many cities, kept as reminders of the past. Requiring large amounts of labor to construct and maintain, brick roads are rarely built today.