The Empire State Building

350 Fifth Avenue (5th Ave at 34th St)
New York City, NY 10118

Construction of the 102-story Empire State Building began in 1930 and was completed in one year and 45 days, rising at a rate of four-and-a-half stories a week; a rate of ascent unsurpassed today. Everything was engineered to be duplicated in tremendous quantity with almost perfect accuracy. The steel posts and beams arrived at the site marked with their place in the framework and with the number of the derrick that would hoist them. Workers could swing the steel into place and have it riveted as soon as 80 hours after it had come out of the furnace. The building is considered one of the seven greatest American engineering achievements.
Who Made It: Structural engineer: H.G. Balcom of H.G. Balcom and Associates. Chief engineer: Andrew J. Eken of Starrett Bros. & Eken Inc.

The Erie Canal      

Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal was the engineering marvel of its day and became another example of how engineering opened doors for economic development--in this case for transporting goods more cheaply. To bring in supplies as work progressed, roads had to be built every step of the way. All 363 miles were built by the muscle power of men and horses alone, with the exception of a few places where black powder was used to blast through rock formations. Many had derided the project as "Clinton's Folly," but New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton envisioned a canal from Buffalo on the eastern shore of Lake Erie to Albany on the upper Hudson River.

Fun Fact: The Erie Canal's success was part of a canal-building boom in New  York in the 1820s. Between 1823 and 1828, several lateral canals opened including the Champlain, the Oswego, and the Cayuga-Seneca. When planning for the Erie Canal started, there was not a single school of engineering in the U.S.

Statue of Liberty National Monument Liberty Island
New York City, NY 10004

The tallest statue of modern times, the Statue of Liberty was given to the U.S. by France to commemorate the two countries' alliance during the American Revolution. Designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the statue was reduced to 350 pieces and packed into 214 crates for transit to the U.S. in 1885. French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel devised the interior support system, using a network of steel girders. General Charles P. Stone was the chief engineer in charge of constructing the foundation and pedestal (designed by Richard Morris Hunt) as well as reassembling the statue, which was dedicated in 1886.
Fun Fact: The outer shell of the Statue of Liberty was created out of copper, because it had to be lightweight and easy to take apart and reassemble. The copper was analyzed in 1985 by Bell Laboratories of New Jersey and traced to the Visnes Copper Mine in Norway, which operated in the 1870s under the direction of Charles Defrance, a French mining engineer.

World Trade Center - In Memoriam

It is difficult to fathom that the World Trade Center no longer exists. It is heartrending to think of the loss of life. The condolences of the National Society of Professional Engineers and those of its National Engineers Week partners go out to all the families who lost their loved ones. Engineers were central to the design of the World Trade Center. Now engineers help assess the stability of the damaged buildings and assist in keeping the cleanup safe. Engineers will be involved in the rebuilding. They will do their vital part, like so many others from so many walks of life.

Hoover Dam

US Highway 93 at Lake Mead and the Colorado River (Nevada/Arizona border)
Lake Mead National Recreation Area (8 miles south , AZ

Considered one of America's Seven Modern Civil    Engineering Wonders, the Hoover Dam is truly awe-inspiring. Standing 726.4 feet high, it is one of the tallest concrete dams ever built and created one of the largest manmade lakes in the U.S. The design phase involved several consulting firms and some 200 engineers and other workers in the Bureau of Reclamation's design office. Construction of the dam, powerplant, and related works began in 1931 and finished in 1936, two years ahead of schedule. At its peak, the project employed 5,218 workers. A 1-hour Hard Hat tour goes behind the scenes, where visitors can see the inner workings of the dam.

Fun Fact: Construction workers' hard hats were invented and first used in building the Hoover Dam. There are 4,360,000 cubic yards of concrete in the dam, powerplant, and appurtenant works; enough to pave a 16-foot-wide highway from San Francisco to New York City. The reservoir can store enough water to cover the state of Pennsylvania to a depth of one foot.

Who Made It: Supervised by Walker R. "Brig" Young, Construction Engineer, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Contractor: an alliance of engineering and construction firms, called Six Companies (Morrison-Knudsen, Utah Construction, Pacific Bridge Company, MacDonald and Kahn, Harry Kaiser, and Warren A. Bechtel)

Sky Line Drive

Entrance points are near Front Royal,and at Thornton Gap, Swift Run Gap, and Rockfish Gap.
Shenandoah National Park, VA

Approximately 105 miles long, Skyline Drive is an engineering achievement that provides access to some of Virginia's best scenery. Local farmers, who were paid from drought relief funds, were put to work for construction. The Civilian Conservation Corps pitched in to build rock walls, picnic areas, and scenic overlooks. The highway was completed on August 29, 1939. An unusual feature of the drive is the 610-foot tunnel through the solid granodiorite of Marys Rock, not far from Thornton Gap. The highest point on the road is at the north entrance to Skyland, where the elevation is 3,680 feet.
Fun Fact: Construction of Skyline Drive began in 1931, spurred on by President Herbert Hoover, an engineer by training. It is said that he was riding his horse along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains one day, when he said to a companion, "These mountains are made for a road, and everybody ought to have a chance to get the views from here."

Golden Gate Bridge

Named one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, connecting San Francisco with the surrounding northern counties. With a length of 8,981 feet and main span length of 4,200 feet, it is one of the longest single-span suspension bridges ever built. Its two massive towers are the highest bridge towers in the U.S., at 746 feet above the water. A clearance of 220 feet allows passage of the largest oceangoing vessels. Additional construction statistics are presented on a cross-section of one of the bridge's main cables, displayed near the Joseph B. Strauss Statue.

Fun Fact: A crew of painters constantly maintains the bridge's distinctive coat of international orange. It is said that the U.S. Navy wanted the bridge painted black with yellow stripes, to make it easily visible to passing ships.

  Millennium Force Roller Coaster

Cedar Point Amusement Park, One Cedar Point Drive, Sandusky, OH 48870-5259

This coaster is not only a tribute to its engineers for being the world’s largest, but engineers employed a host of new technologies. For example, the elevator cable system--used for first time on a roller coaster--ensures a smooth trip up the hill, and a magnetic braking system replaces the traditional friction approach.
Fun Fact: This is the world’s tallest (310 feet) and fastest (92 mph) rollercoaster, and is supported by 226 footers using 9,400 yards of concrete. It took 175 truckloads of steel make up the frame. One train weighs 19 tons

Who Made It: Intamin of Wollerau, Switzerland, and Cedar Point’s Planning & Design Dept.

Lookout Mountain Incline Railway

3917 St. Elmo Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37409-1239

 After the Civil War, few people made the four-hour trip up Whiteside Pike, a two-dollar toll road, to visit the peak made famous by the "Battle Above the Clouds." Then came the railroad boom, and speculators decided to develop a hotel on the mountaintop that would be serviced by a short railroad. In 1885, John T. Crass formed the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway Company and built a steam-powered incline up the steepest part of the mountain. The engineering marvel boasted an incline of 72.7% near the top, making it the world's steepest passenger railway. Today the refurbished incline is powered by two 100-hp electric motors.

Fun Fact: When General U.S. Grant visited Lookout Mountain in 1863, it took close to four hours for him to negotiate the rough wagon road to the top by horse and carriage. Today, visitors can ride up the mountain in less than 15 minutes and take just a short walk farther to reach the same bluff where Grant stood and admired the view.
 Who Made It: John T. Crass, Lookout Mountain Incline Railway Company