From 46439007cf417cbd9ac8049bb4122c890097a0fa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Charles.Forsyth" Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 20:52:35 +0000 Subject: 20060303-partial --- lib/ebooks/oebtest/GoldenGate.html | 68 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 68 insertions(+) create mode 100644 lib/ebooks/oebtest/GoldenGate.html (limited to 'lib/ebooks/oebtest/GoldenGate.html') diff --git a/lib/ebooks/oebtest/GoldenGate.html b/lib/ebooks/oebtest/GoldenGate.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a424df66 --- /dev/null +++ b/lib/ebooks/oebtest/GoldenGate.html @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ + + + + + + +Bill Wattenburg’s Background: Golden Gate Bridge Traffic Barrier + + + + +

Golden Gate Bridge Traffic Barrier

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(1982–1984)

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Another series of newspaper articles in 1982–1984 describe how Wattenburg did the +“BART story” again on the over-confident Golden Gate Bridge +engineers who insisted that a moveable +anti-collision barrier could not be designed that would fit between the traffic lanes on the bridge +and meet the requirement that it be moved twice each day to allow reallocation of the lanes for +rush hour flow. The Bridge’s private engineering firm was being paid over a million dollars a +year to advise the bridge district. Numerous fatal head-on collisions had made this a very +controversial subject. A frustrated bridge director called on Wattenburg to find a solution. A few +weeks later he came up with a design that stunned the confident engineers—and evidently +fascinated the press and the public because it was so simple.

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His solution was to use sections of large-diameter (24″) round steel pipe which are strung together +on a strong steel cable like a spaghetti necklace. He later proved that the steel pipe is as strong as +conventional concrete lane dividers. The steel pipe can be rolled from lane to lane quite easily to +change traffic flow patterns. Once Wattenburg had proved that the problem could be solved by at +least one inexpensive scheme, two other companies quickly came forth with alternate designs of +their own. Internal politics over where and how money should be spent on bridge improvements +has delayed installation of any of these anti-collision barriers to date. However, other bridges +around the world have installed movable traffic barriers which are renditions of Wattenburg’s +patented design that he offered to give the Golden Gate Bridge District free-of-charge.

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The head of one embarrassed engineering firm working for the bridge district attacked +Wattenburg’s credentials to be doing work for the district without having a license as a +professional engineer (he evidently assumed that Wattenburg must be getting paid). Wattenburg’s +terse response to the press was: “I don’t take public money for exposing high-priced fools who +pretend to be competent engineers.”

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Bill Wattenburg and his son, Eric, who was an engineering student at California State +University, Chico, were issued a patent on their movable pipe barrier design in 1987. His son +had designed the mechanism that automatically rolls the pipe barrier from lane to lane while +keeping it tied down securely to the bridge deck or roadway at all times. Wattenburg said that he +was about to give up on the pipe barrier idea because he hadn’t solved this problem. Eric picked +up the problem one weekend and found a clever solution that made the whole scheme practical. +Eric built a fully operational scale model that he demonstrated to the Golden Gate Bridge +Directors.

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Wattenburg told us that movable pipe barriers are still the cheapest and best traffic barriers +that can be quickly installed around many places that could be attacked by vehicles carrying +bombs or terrorists, such as government buildings, embassies oversees, and troop encampments +in hostile places. “The military will get around to it someday, after we lose another few hundred +of our people.”

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Note: It took until late 1998 before anyone paid serious attention to +Wattenburg’s idea of using the barrier to protect against truck bombs. The San +Francisco Chronicle reported +on the successful testing performed by Lawrence Livermore National Labs (October 8, 1988). +Unfortunately, the device still has not been used to this date.—PKS

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