Career By Design

Hi folks, 

Today I want to start a discussion on ASCE Historic landmarks! Did you know that as of today, there are more than 200 projects worldwide that have earned the designation of ASCE Historic Civil Engineering Landmark? You can learn more about these projects here (and even search them by Year Completed, Location, OR Alphabetical): Historic Landmarks 

I would love to hear about your experiences visiting ASCE Historic landmarks and seeing your photos from this experience if you have any! 

My photo below is from my visit to Pittsburgh back in 2018. This was taken with the plaques on the Smithfield Street Bridge, one of the many bridges in this city! More information on this bridge and why it has the honor of one of  ASCE's Historic landmarks here: Smithfield Street Bridge. 


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Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE (She/her)
Associate Engineer
Pennoni
Philadelphia PA
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I didn't realize ASCE had landmarks until I was in Spain with my dad. We were in Segovia in 2019 looking at the aqueduct, and as we went to walk up the steps I noticed that the plaque said ASCE. I made sure to take a picture of it, so I'll include that below. The landmark I was at is actually the oldest one (based on date of construction). I highly recommend taking the trip if you have the chance. It was incredible to see how precise the construction was with a nearly constant slope considering the terrain changes and the materials being used.

Acueducto de Segovia

Next on my list is another aqueduct that is about 4 hours from where I'm currently living in Mexico for grad school. ( Acueducto de Queretaro )





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Heidi C. Wallace, P.E., M.ASCE
Tulsa, OK
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Hi Danielle,

I have a few photos of me at the Statue of Liberty, and a few others when I was younger. I thought it might be fun to do large fundraisers for a group to travel to landmark sights and talk about the engineering side of the project. 

Thanks, 
Oanh 

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Oanh Le, A.M.ASCE (She/Her)
Rochdale, MA
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Not at the National level but at the local level, the University Heights Water Tower in San Diego, CA obtained its ASCE Historic Local Engineering Landmark in 2015, with local leaders in attendance. Originally built in 1924, a riveted steel tank raised on 12 steel girders high above San Diego's early streetcar suburbs held more than one million gallons of water for a growing city. Now the water tower has become a hallmark for the neighborhood, and I attended the dedication ceremony shown on the left of the left image

Then it was replicated…sort of…by completely encasing a new cell site tower placed at a community gateway location, as shown in the right image. This cell site tower also got the attention of local leaders, who attended its own inauguration ceremony.

In addition to having the ASCE local Civil Engineering Landmark designation, the original University Heights Water Tower won the Outstanding Historical Renovation Project Award from the local ASCE Section in 2020 for its Seismic Retrofit. The cell site tower with the replicated Water Tower design won the Merit Award in 2019 from the local ASCE Section in the category of utilities.

The uniqueness is that both the original and the replica water towers won ASCE awards, and both got the attention they deserved.

René Vidales
San Diego, CA

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Rene Vidales Ing., P.E., M.ASCE
Program Coordinator
San Diego CA
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Two years ago my wife and I traveled to Europe, and one of the places we stayed was in Paris, so of course we had to see the Eiffel Tower, which is recognized as an ASCE Landmark. Here are a few photos I took during our visit.



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Doug Cantrell P.E., M.ASCE
Professional Engineer
Durham NC
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Here are the photos from the previous post

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Rene Vidales Ing., P.E., M.ASCE
Program Coordinator
San Diego CA
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Just got home from a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton where I saw a couple more ASCE landmarks along the way. The first was the Buffalo Bill Dam, and the second was the Fort Laramie Bridge which is a Wyoming section ASCE landmark. It's always fun to find the ASCE landmark markers unexpectedly when traveling. 



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Heidi C. Wallace, P.E., M.ASCE
Tulsa, OK
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Growing up I spent countless weekends with my Father and sometimes Mother and siblings exploring the remnants of the Middlesex Canal. The canal, opened in 1803, connected textile mills in Lowell MA to Boston Harbor. It operated for about 50 years before being replaced by rail. It's been recognized by ASCE with claim to fame: The Middlesex Canal is one of the oldest man-made waterways in the United States. The canal served as a model for the later Erie Canal. My Father remains active in the Middlesex Canal Association while my brother has started leading walks along different sections that remain preserved today. The attached photos are from a section in Woburn MA that I walked this past March while in the Boston area.



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Mitch Winkler P.E., M.ASCE
Houston, TX
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I am attaching a photo of the John A. Roebling Bridge in Cincinnati that crosses over the Ohio River into Kentucky. The John A. Roebling Bridge has been an iconic landmark over the Ohio River for more than 150 years;it was designed by civil engineer John A. Roebling.

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Morris Maslia P.E., D.WRE, F.EWRI, M.ASCE
Owner
M. L. Maslia Consulting Engineer
Peachtree Corners GA
[Phone]
H2OBoy54@...
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This Roman-Empire-era aqueduct has not been designated as an ASCE Historical Landmark. However, I believe it deserves such designation.
It is the Roman Aqueduct located in Caesarea, Israel.  Caesarea served as a base for the Herodian navy that operated in aid of the Romans as far as the Black Sea. Ruins of the Roman aqueduct at Caesarea are shown in the photo. The city became the capital of the Roman province of Judaea in 6 CE.

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Morris Maslia P.E., D.WRE, F.EWRI, M.ASCE
Owner
M. L. Maslia Consulting Engineer
Peachtree Corners GA
H2OBoy54@...
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Did you know that there are over 450 ASCE historic civil engineering landmarks worldwide? ASCE's History & Heritage Committee has been working on an initiative to inventory all of the Society's historic civil engineering landmarks, which include International, National, State, and Local designations. We have been mapping out the location of designated ASCE landmarks and plaques in Google Maps – you can view the current progress of the landmark and plaque mapping effort on Google Maps.

The History & Heritage Committee needs help, particularly from local members who live in proximity to landmarks or may be traveling to locations with landmarks, to perform landmark site visits and locate the remaining plaques that haven't yet been inventoried. If you would like to help out with this initiative, please contact me and I can let you know what landmarks we are looking to get volunteers to visit in your area. With your assistance, the Committee can add more locations to its landmark inventory and mapping effort, making it easier for others to discover historic civil engineering landmarks in the future!

Here's a photo of me visiting one of the landmarks in my area – the Croton Water Supply System. The portion of the former aqueduct in Westchester County is now the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park, a 26.2 mile-long park that you can hike along.

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Erik Metzger
New York, NY
emetzger@...
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