Civil Engineering Photos

Photo Credit: Troy Clack

Seen here is a mechanical lift bridge in Duluth, Minnesota. Lift bridges are advantageous because they can use proportionally smaller counterweights than swing-span or bascule bridges, yet still allow for tall vessels to pass when the bridge is in the up position. However, the bridge superstructure is still above the water, so the height of the boats is still somewhat limited. This particular bridge has an interesting story of why it was needed and can be read about here.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

The yellow piece of equipment seen above is called a bay crane. Bay cranes are used in factories and warehouses because they allow for access to the entire floor area of a facility by one machine. Bay cranes work by rolling along the tracks placed along the side of the room for access to the entire room’s length. They then have a separate roller and track system that allow for access across the width of the room located on the carriage that travels on the previously mentioned tracks. Cranes of this design can range in capacity from several hundred pounds to many tons depending on the needs of the facility the crane serves.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Seen here is the Olympus Dam in Estes Park, Colorado near Rocky Mountain National Park. The dam is 70 feet tall and created Estes Lake, 185 acres in size, after its completion. Construction started in the summer of 1947 and the dam is used today mainly for hydroelectric component to generate electricity. This dam uses sluice gates to regulate the height of the water behind it, and they can been seen at the top of the dam. Currently, the center gate of five is the only one open, but during the spring melt the dam can drain near full capacity to keep the water behind it at a safe level.

Photo Credit: Andrew Sisson

Seen here is a collapsed building in the capital city Port-au-Prince of Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake. It appears to have been a soft story collapse seeing the entire roof structure is mostly intact. Possible explanations of this could be weak concrete used in the columns or possibly too little steel reinforcement. Seeing this building was built in Haiti, lower construction quality is likely compared to countries like the United States, and lower code requirements exist, which unfortunately lead to a weaker building more susceptible to collapse.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Seen here is a before and after picture of a concrete pour of a walkway entrance. This shot allows the viewer to see the inner rebar structure of the steps as well as the formwork necessary to cast the concrete in the shape desired. Formwork construction is usually the most labor intensive component of cast-in-place concrete construction.

On behalf of the CEE Photos team, welcome! We hope you find your visit enjoyable.

Photographs of the civil engineering infrastructure on which society depends are featured on this site. The purpose of this website is to inform the public of what makes up civil engineering infrastructure. Also, this site is to give the civil engineering student a visual example of their course work in the real world.