I recently had the privilege of spending some time with a wonderful group of young people – the leaders of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapters from universities in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.
I originally was recruited to give a talk at their annual Assembly, which was held at Pitt this year, hosted by our student chapter. Then, at the last minute I ended up pinch-hitting for a much more qualified expert, as a tour guide/narrator for a Friday night cruise on the Gateway Clipper.
Actually it didn’t take much arm-twisting to get me to take on this assignment. I am always impressed with the folks who narrate train rides or boat trips, not to mention docents at historical sites. Much too often I find fault with them and tell myself I could do better.
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to learn that this is a lot harder than it looks. I have taken this trip several times and had a rough idea what we would be able to see from the boat. I assumed the biggest focus for a group of Civil Engineers would be on the bridges we went under, supplemented by the tall buildings in the Golden Triangle and the tunnels, inclines, and railroads that we could see.
Somehow I always have trouble finding the parking lot for the Gateway Clipper. This time I decided to approach it from the West, via the West End Bypass. I nearly botched the turnoff from the Parkway, sorely tempted to take the exit that leads up Route 51 to the Liberty Tunnel. I made up for by missing the exit for Carson Street and found myself on the West End Bridge. Back across the Fort Bridge and heading the wrong way on Carson Street. Eventually I found a place to turn around and was able to limp into the parking lot.
Once on the boat, we explained to the crew what I was supposed to do. They provided me with a wireless microphone, which functioned satisfactorily most of the time. I had prepared a detailed set of notes, mostly related to dates and people associated with the design and construction of the things we would be passing.
I concluded my best location would be on the top deck. That worked well until we set sail and I realized the deck was completely dark. I might as well have thrown my notes into the Mon for all the good they did me.
My opening quip was to describe the features of our vessel, including the “plank” on its bow, which I explained was used to get rid of undesirable passengers. I then instructed all the fans of the Philadelphia Flyers, Baltimore Ravens, and Washington Capitols to report to the plank and form an orderly line.
Much too late I remembered the story of the Pitt Stadium P. A. announcer who interrupted a Pitt-West Virginia game with the statement that there was a car in the parking lot with its lights on and motor running, West Virginia license plate E-I-E-I-O. I missed a chance to tease our WVU visitors.
In addition to frequent sound system malfunctions and my inability to read my notes, I had misjudged the route we would take. When we passed under the Tenth Street Bridge I heaved a sigh of relief because I had a lot to say about the next bridge (Birmingham) and the mystery of the B-25 that crashed into the Monongahela River in 1956 and has never been found. Much to my dismay the Captain did a “one-eighty” and headed for the Point.
Fortunately it was a beautiful evening with a nearly full moon directly over the fountain when we made the turn to head up the Allegheny. I announced “photo opportunity”, which immediately initiated a rush to the railing of folks armed with Smart phones. My colleague Tony Iannichione produced the best photograph.
The Allegheny leg was also disappointing as the combination of high water and scaffolding under the Warhol Bridge made it impossible for the Clipper to negotiate the “Three Sisters Bridges”. Here too I had a lot to say and had to compress it into a few statements.
No complaints about the Ohio leg, thanks to the Duquesne Heights Incline, the U. S. S. Requin, and the West End Bridge. It also provided us with another opportunity to marvel at the view of the fountain and the towers in the Golden Triangle, with the moon directly above them.
In retrospect the experience wasn’t as bad as it sounds. My friends were courteous about my performance and many of the visitors didn’t know enough about Pittsburgh to recognize my errors and omissions. I would like to take another crack at it, now that I realize what the problems are.
The subject of my talk the next day was “The Civil Engineering Heritage of Western Pennsylvania”. This is a topic that really excites me. I decided to do it by discussing, chronologically, the ten Civil Engineering achievements in this area that have been awarded “Landmark” status by ASCE. In order they are the Mason-Dixon Survey, the U. S. Public Land Survey, the National Road, the Allegheny Portage Railway, the Dunlap’s Creek Bridge (Brownsville), the Horseshoe Curve, the Smithfield Street Bridge, the Davis Island Dam, the Kinzua Viaduct, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
These were easy to discuss, primarily of my involvement in the nomination of many of them and my personal interest in each of them. It is interesting that discussing them chronologically is automatically a review of the way the Civil Engineering profession evolved in the past two and a half centuries.
It was appropriate for me to add a handful of other achievements that I believe warrant consideration as Historical Civil Engineering Landmarks – the U. S. Steel Building, the George Westinghouse Bridge, the Cathedral of Learning, ALCOSAN, and George Washington Ferris’ Observation Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Each of them is a worthwhile project.
I ended the talk with a short sermon I have given to our Pitt students on a number of occasions. Entitled “Cream of the Crop”, it is a plea to them to take advantage of the education they have received, their unparalleled access to tools and information, and their inherent intelligence to tackle the massive problems that face Civil Engineers today – the design, construction, and maintenance of our infrastructure, for the benefit of society, while minimizing its impact on the environment.
This was an appropriate audience; they are the leaders of an already elite group of young people who have survived the “weeding out” of those who are not outstanding, and who are now approaching the point where they will begin to make their mark in the “real world”.