PHILADELPHIA SECTION AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS P. O. Box 58186, Philadelphia, PA 19102-8186 Electronic Message Hotline: 1-800-461-4190 (24 hours a day) Web site: http://www.asce-philly.org National ASCE Central Number 1-800-548-ASCE • Toll Free The Sidney Robin Memorial Newsletter of the Philadelphia Section ASCE Vol. 80-5 Our 95th Year February 2008 ASCE, PHILA. SECTION FEBRUARY JOINT DINNER MEETING MEETING SCHEDULE American Society of Civil Engineers, Philadelphia Section, 2007-08 American Society of Civil Engineers, New Jersey Section, South Jersey Branch The 2007–08 season is drawing to a close THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2008 (where’d it go?!). At this point, there are two Crowne Plaza Hotel • 2349 W. Marlton Pike (Route 70) at Cuthbert Road, Cherry Hill, NJ ASCE, Phila. Section Meetings remaining this Cocktails 5:30 PM • Dinner 6:30 PM • Meeting Presentation Follows season. Preliminary information for March is provided on page 1. Current information on the SUBJECT: “Extreme Makeover” Project Home in Pennsauken last meeting, April, is given below. SPEAKER: David D. Blackwell and Donald H. Yoos, Jr., J.S. Hovnanian & Sons Thursday, April 10, 2008 — Joint meeting with Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia — RESERVATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2008. ALL RESERVATIONS Location: Center City, to be determined — SHOULD BE MADE THROUGH ASCE, SOUTH JERSEY BRANCH’S RESERVATIONS SYSTEM. The ASCE, Topic: Current Developments in the Port Phila. Section will NOT be accepting any reservations for this meeting. Checks should NOT be sent of Philadelphia; presented by John Estey, to our Post Office Box and calls will NOT be accepted through the Section Hotline. Please make your Philadelphia Regional Port Authority reservations with Andrew Feranda of Shropshire Associates at [email protected] or (609) 714-0400. The May, 2008 — Annual Spring Social/Dinner cost of dinner will be $35 per member or guest, $15 per ASCE Student Member. Payment will be Dance — to be scheduled accepted at the door. Walk-ins will be subject to acceptance on a space-available basis. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT SPACE WILL BE AVAILABLE IF YOU DO NOT RESERVE A SPACE. SCIENCE FAIRS COMING UP — J.S. Hovnanian & Sons was recently honored to partner with the ABC Television Network and WANT TO BE A JUDGE? its program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to build a brand new home for a family who embodies all of the qualities we admire so dearly. In a Camden neighborhood mired in chaos and The Delaware Valley Science Fairs will be turmoil, the Marrero family stands out as an example, showing us all that the strength to change a conducted on Wednesday,April 2, 2008, at the family, change a neighborhood, or just change where you’re headed, all comes from within — that Valley Forge Convention Center, Scanticon Continued on Page 3 Complex. The ASCE, Phila. Section will once again participate in the Fairs and offer four Special Awards for projects that have a Civil MARCH JOINT DINNER MEETING Engineering theme, with two awards for Grades American Society of Civil Engineers, Philadelphia Section 6 through 8 and two for Grades 9 through 12. Institute of Transportation Engineers, Mid-Atlantic Section As usual, judges are needed for this effort. Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia The judging will require you to spend most, if not all, of your day (approximately 8 am to 3 pm) THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008 at the Fairs, examining and short listing possible Union League • 140 South Braod Street (at SansomStreet), Center City Philadelphia, PA projects in the morning and then interviewing the Cocktails 5:30 PM • Dinner 6:30 PM • Meeting 7:30 PM students who assembled them and finalizing the SUBJECT: The New CBS 3/CW 57 Multimedia Studio selections in the afternoon. It is always a very SPEAKER: Anthony F. Naccarato, P.E., Principal, O’Donnell & Naccarato interesting and enlightening experience. If you are interested in being a Special RESERVATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2008. Please send your Awards Judge for the Section please contact check for the number of attendees at $40 per member or guest, $20 per ASCE Student Member. Chris Rood at [email protected] will also Checks should be made payable to “Philadelphia Section ASCE” and sent to ASCE, PO Box 58186, need to register for this and this can be done Philadelphia, PA 19102-8186. Reservations can also be made on the Electronic Message Center, through the Fairs’ website www.dvsf.org. 800-461-4190, or via e-mail at [email protected]. Walk-ins will be subject to acceptance on a For more information on the Fairs please space-available basis. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT SPACE WILL BE AVAILABLE IF visit the above website. YOU DO NOT RESERVE A SPACE. We hope you can join us for this! Philadelphia’s CBS network television station, KYW, also known as Channel 3, moved from a non- Better to remain silent and descript location on the 1600 block of Walnut Street in the early 1970’s into a state-of-the-art studio on Independence Mall. Last year, the station, along with KYW 1060 Newsradio and WYSP 94 FM, be thought a fool than to vacated the 5th Street building. The two radio stations moved next door, to 400 Market Street, in speak out and remove all doubt. March. In July, CBS3 relocated to a modern facility in Franklintown, where it was joined by its sister — Abraham Lincoln station WPSG (Channel 57). Mr. Naccarato will present information on the new facility. Page 2 THE NEWS February 2008 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ASCE, PHILADELPHIA SECTION Does it surprise you that the world’s best eater, Joey Chestnut, is a Civil OFFICERS & BOARD OF DIRECTORS Engineer? He mentioned his Engineering degree, and the fact that he works for a 2007-08 SEASON construction company, during an interview leading up to Wing Bowl as examples PRESIDENT of what makes him a “regular guy”. James P. Markham, Pennoni Associates, Inc. One of the things I like about this profession is that Civil Engineering is all around all of us all the time. (Well maybe not all of us. If you are one of those PRESIDENT ELECT people who lives in a cave or structure you made out of trees you pulled down with Mark J. Tiger, Michael Baker Jr., Inc. your hands, grow your own food, and make your own clothes out of things you find in the woods – VICE PRESIDENT you can stop reading, this brief article is really geared to everyone else (and how did you get this Kristen Bowman Kavanagh, newsletter anyway!)) It is a regular part of everyday life. If you take a drink of water in your home, Flow Science, Inc. or drive to work, or enjoy some product that was shipped to you, you benefitted from the hard work of several Civil Engineers. If you made a phone call, or turned on a light, or used some other SECRETARY Jennifer K. Walsh, McMahon Associates, Inc. manufactured product you benefitted from the hard work of several other types of Engineers. Engineers Week (February 15-23) is the one time a year that we make a concerted effort as a TREASURER profession to draw attention to the good work we do all the time. The other 51 weeks out of the year Joseph Platt, Traffic Planning and Design, Inc. you will most likely only hear about Civil Engineers if something has gone wrong. I’d love to see the ASSISTANT SECRETARY following headline during Engineers Week: “Pennsylvania’s 25,000 State Owned Bridges Thomas W. Brady, Louis Berger Remain Standing” Your ASCE, Phila. Section is dedicated to getting the word out about Civil Engineers and ASSISTANT TREASURER infrastructure. Together with the other Pennsylvania Sections, we issued the 2006 ASCE Report Card Mark N. Washington, Phila. Dept. of Streets on Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure. Last year we took part in the Legislative Day in Harrisburg, where MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY several of our members visited our state legislature in order to keep our infrastructure on the agenda. Christopher W. Wright, DMJM Harris This year, we are visiting Harrisburg again in May. Will you be a part of it this year? Stay tuned to THE NEWS for more information as it becomes available. DIRECTORS During Engineers Week and throughout the year we need to keep the positive work that we are Vicki L. Brown, Widener University (‘07-’09) doing at the forefront of the public’s attention. Let’s make sure the public knows what a good job we Jeremy Colello, Pennoni Associates, Inc. (‘06-’08) are doing for everyone. Anthony J. Kelly, Perkins Will (‘06-’08) Yours in Service, Soheila Rahbari, Schoor DePalma (‘07-’09) Ann M. Tomalavage, Malarkey Consulting, Inc. James Markham, P.E. (‘07-’09) President John Zarsky, Pennoni Associates, Inc. (‘07-’08) ASCE, Philadelphia Section PAST PRESIDENTS Carol C. Martsolf, Urban Engineers, Inc. HAPPY ENGINEERS WEEK • In college, you thought Spring Break was Christopher J. Menna, Phila. Dept. of Streets metal fatigue failure. Brian A. Stover, Urban Engineers, Inc. With Engineers Week upon us, and us getting • The salespeople at the local computer store PRESIDENT, READING BRANCH our 8 days of “fame”, we thought we would can't answer any of your questions. Gerald Donnelly, STV, Inc. provide a few things you may hear from your • You can type 70 words per minute but you non-Engineer counterparts (especially, ironically, can't read your own handwriting. architects and IT specialists!). President — James P. Markham, P.E. • You comment to your friend that her straight Manager, Transportation Q: When does a person decide to become an hair is nice and parallel.