Some "firsts" in civil engineering from 2015

(And they're not ALL bridges!)

From the ASCE year in review e- newsletter:

• Civil engineering is taking center stage in a new IMAX movie that should premiere this fall. Called "Dream Big: Engineering Wonders of the World," it a MacGillivray Freeman film, in partnership with ASCE and presented by Bechtel Corp. In addition to highlighting the wonders of engineering, the film is viewed by many as a tool to recruit young people into the profession. 
• The One World Observatory opened in May in New York City. It's on floors 100, 101 and 102 of One World Trade Center, which measures 1,776 feet at the top of its antenna.
• Bertha, the problem-plagued tunnel-boring machine on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project in Washington, finally started boring again in December. Since then, a barge mishap and a sinkhole have halted any further progress.
• Daene McKinney, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, M.ASCE, led an assessment research team on a two-month mission in Nepal following the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in April. Reconstruction has been delayed in the country.
• The nearly $9.5 billion, 35-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel opened in June under the Swiss Alps, becoming the world’s longest tunnel.
• The $5.2 billion expansion of the Panama Canal was 96% complete at the end of the year.
• The 2,073-foot, 127-story Shanghai Tower opened, becoming the tallest building in China, dwarfed in the world only by the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates.
• Russian Railways unveiled detailed plans for the Trans-Eurasian Belt, a high-speed railway through Siberia that would necessitate a tunnel crossing under the Bering Strait.