prof.sam

requirement.docx

Home >Engineering homework help >prof.sam

Ethics of Bay Bridge

The San Francisco Bay Bridge underwent major seismic retrofits and reconstruction recently. One of the costliest infrastructure projects in the country, the replacement of the eastern span of the bridge has not been without controversy. I have collected a number of articles from various news sources (with the Sacramento Bee's Charles Piller featuring heavily) that detail some of the issues that have been raised.

For this assignment, read these articles and write a 3 pages report on the ethics of the Bay Bridge. Given the number and scope of the articles presented, you certainly should not include all of them. Rather focus on one or two issues, describe them, and, referencing the ASCE canon of ethics, discuss the ethics of the situation. Specifically you should analyze the ethics of the situation – e.g, is it ethical to convene a blue ribbon panel to critically review an agency’s work, when everyone on the panel receives funding from that agency.

You are certainly allowed to do your own research on the topic. Every several months there seems to be a new story detailing a problem with the bridge. While I have tried to gather many of them, I am certain that I have missed some. If you do come across a good story that I'm missing, forward me the link/pdf so I can include it in future years.

Also, as you read the articles from the SacBee, you might get the sense that Mr. Piller has deep seated issues with Caltrans. Realize that while journalists are supposed to present facts and generally be impartial, he might have his own agenda. I have no knowledge to suggest he is biased against Caltrans; just that you take what you read and view it as objectively as possible.