Measured in Metric

Do you think you'd be able to escape from Alcatraz? This episode we discuss the 36 men who tried (including a few who might have succeeded), as well as the construction and history of this infamous prison.

The island of Alcatraz is known by many as “The Rock” and for good reason. Before being the site of the infamous US federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963 this 9 hectare island was used as a US military prison as far back as 1861 and as a military fort beginning in the early 1800s. Through its entire history nothing has ever been able to grow and no freshwater has ever been found, even when digging wells dozens of metres Ito the stone ground, meaning that for over 150 years any supplies needed had to be shipped in by boat.

When the first prisoners were held on Alcatraz the island was still primarily a fortification holding only up to 30 prisoners at a time, up until 1899 when this skyrocketed to 400 including military prisoners from the US Civil War, the US’s involvement in Southeast Asia, and the Mexican Border Wars. Over the next decade military prison infrastructure would be built until a permanent prison building was constructed in 1910. This however was not the Alcatraz we think of today, being a relatively low security prison built out of wood with frequent escape attempts.

But by 1913 the image of a military prison so close to the vibrant commercial and residential areas of San Francisco was a bad look, with many feeling it gave the idea that such a large military prison suggested that the US military included a high number of misbehaving officers. Many ideas were floated for what to do with this island, including suggestions to use it for a west-coast equivalent of the Statue of Liberty, but ultimately in 1933 it was transferred to the Department Of Justice for use as a federal prison.

A lot of work would need to be accomplished to ensure the safety of the residents of nearby San Francisco. This mostly wooden prison would be rebuilt with hacksaw proof steel bars and grates on every cell, door, and window, and all the wood construction would be replaced with concrete. Guard towers would be built with visibility of prisoners throughout the facility and equipped with tear gas and mounted guns, and Alcatraz would be outfitted with new technology such as mechanical locking systems, making it one of the first instances of using a control panel rather than individual locks and keys to open and close each cell.

On top of these impressive security measures the location of the island itself would be a massive deterrent for escape attempts. A whole 2km off the coast of California the water surrounding the island was extremely cold, had a tide that would pull potential escapees back into the ocean, and if that weren’t enough the water was also home to great white sharks. This however did not stop 36 prisoners from participating in a total of 14 escape attempts, including one final attempt in 1962 when 3 prisoners successfully made it off the island in rafts they’d built out of raincoats. While they are presumed to have drowned their bodies were never found, which in addition to the millions of dollars needed in repairs would contribute to the final closing of the prison in 1963.

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Image Gallery

Alcatraz Island 1934 | Alcatraz Aerial | Cell | Escape attempt paper mache heads | Al Capone | Cell block

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Music by: John Julius - Bandcamp.com

Edited by: Astronomic Audio

We spent most of our between-seasons break in Australia, so naturally the subject of our first episode of the season should be too! This engineering monument is the world’s widest and heaviest arch bridge and the world’s 7th longest spanning, it’s on the Australian National Heritage List and the New South Wales Heritage Register: the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

This iconic bridge connecting Sydney’s Central Business District with the north shore is affectionately known as “The Coathanger” and “The Iron Lung” and has been helping residents of Sydney cross the Sydney harbour since its construction in 1932. Prior to the construction of this bridge the only route across the harbour was by ferry, and by 1927 the use of these ferries had peaked at 47 million passengers annually, which was quickly more than halved when the bridge was constructed. Although the ferry still operates today the bridge is the primary mode of transportation, with its 6 lanes of traffic plus tramlines and bike paths transporting more than 150,000 vehicles, 2004 trains, and 1,650 bicycles every single day.

The bridge was originally proposed by English born architect Francis Greenway in 1815, but official planning would not begin until nearly a century later in 1914 when John Bradfield was appointed Chief Engineer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Metropolitan Railway Construction. Bradfield’s plans were heavily inspired by the Hell’s Gate Bridge in New York City and follows a similar design, right down to the four massive pylons situated on the ends of the bridge that exist solely as engineering placebos to help the public feel more comfortable using the arch bridge. After the Australian government passed the Sydney Harbour Bridge Act in 1922 bids for this project were opened up globally garnering 20 proposals from 6 different firms, ultimately being awarded to English firm Dorman Long & Company.

Construction cost for this project was one of the lowest we’ve ever looked at on the podcast, just $6.25 Million AUD or roughly $13.5 Million AUD today which is pretty cheap as far as bridges go! Whether this was a good deal or not this bridge had a more than 50 year long montage taking until 1988 to be paid off via the $3 AUD toll for crossing the bridge, which is today used to fund the future Sydney Harbour Tunnel project. Despite the relatively low cost of constructing the bridge annual maintenance currently costs approximately $5 Million AUD.

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Image Gallery

Bridge construction diagram | Vivian on site | The infamous credit plaque | Bridge side view | Bridge side view with Sydney Opera House | Bridge construction photo | Bridge overhead photo | One of four “placebo” pylons | 1988 plaque awarded by American Society of Civill Engineers | Keystone replica

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Music by: John Julius - Bandcamp.com

Edited by: Astronomic Audio

Coming next Friday April 17: Measured in Metric Season 2!

Beginning next week we'll be taking you on a tour around the world while everyone is stuck at home, starting with Australia's Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Check out our instagram @MeasuredInMetric to find out more.

Learn more at: MeasuredInMetric.com | Facebook | Instagram

Music by: John Julius - Bandcamp.com

Edited by: Astronomic Audio

In our Season 1 finale we conclude our two part episode on the Brooklyn Bridge, and later in the episode we speak with Unit Managing Director with Mott McDonald, Chris Mealing, about his history as a bridge Engineer and how he sleeps at night!

In part one of our Brooklyn Bridge double feature we discussed some people who were a little crazy, and a little cool, but mostly both: The Roeblings. This family of Engineers were largely responsible for the design and construction of the bridge, which would be the first to span the East River. In part one we extensively discussed John and his son Washington Roebling, but only just touched on our first female Engineer of the podcast: Washington’s wife Emily Roebling.

Despite the fact that Emily was not officially recognized as an Engineer at the time Emily completely took over the project after her husband fell ill with decompression sickness from an accident in the caissons. Emily managed contractors and construction officials over technical details while also managing the board of directors and the mayor of New York over commercial management of the project, and would be the first woman to address the American Society of Civil Engineers. After the completion of the bridge Emily would also go on to obtain a degree in Law from NYU.

We also get into some greater detail on the construction of the caissons and the technical specs behind the bridge including the many redundancies built into the design. John Roebling had famously said that even if the cables snapped the bridge would not fall, which would prove to be particularly important when some of the materials would turn out to be counterfeit due to contractor negligence and lead to cables snapping in the 1980s.

Later we speak with Chris Mealing, Unit Managing Director for Mott MacDonald. Chris began his career as a bridge engineer. We talk about the projects Chris is most proud of and how the scope and complexity of engineering projects have changed as the tools available to Engineers have become much more advanced: 

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Edited by: Astronomic Audio

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This week we’re discussing a topic that keeps Vivan up at night: bridges. In the first half of this two episode topic we’ll be learning about the world’s first steel wire suspension bridge, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge is a tale of three engineers, John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling, and his son’s wife Emily Warren Roebling. Prior to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge from 1869 through 1883 there was no crossing from Brooklyn to Manhattan and all commuting was done by ferry. The local government would enter into a partnership similar to what we call a P3 today (Public Private Project), wherein a private entity would build the bridge, the government would own the bridge, and revenue from a toll booth on the bridge would be split between the private entity and the government.

John Roebling was selected as the chief engineer for the project because of his prior bridge work and his company’s revolutionary iron and steel rope, and the strength of these materials would make the 1.8km long bridge possible. Unlike many of our engineering heroes in the 1800s John Roebling was not self-trained, and despite his impressive track record and strong materials his plans for the bridge would be met with great skepticism. To put the minds of concerned engineers at ease Roebling would host a page turn, essentially locking 7 skeptical engineers and industry professionals in a room and reviewing every page of the plans until they were satisfied, not unlike what Vivian does today! Ultimately the industry was satisfied but getting the local government on board with his plans would take more convincing and a group would be organized to tour four of his previous bridges. Ultimately they were convinced of the viability of his plans and construction would begin shortly afterwards.

While surveying areas where the bridge would meet with the road system John Roebling would have his foot crushed by a ferry. This stubbornly tough engineer would agree to having his toes amputated but insisted upon having the procedure completed without anesthetic. As a believer in hydrotherapy he would attempt to treat the surgical wound by pouring water on his feet day and night, but ultimately he would succumb to infection and die just 28 days later. Upon his death his son Washington Roebling would be assigned to take over the project and despite being only 32 years old at the time he was enormously respected for being not only technically competent and great with details, but also much humbler than his father. Washington Roebling and his wife Emily Warren Roebling had previously been sent to Europe to research the use of pressurized caissons as a method for building bridge foundations underwater. These workshop-diving-bell hybrids would be the cause of many deaths during the construction of the bridge, primarily as a result of decompression sickness which had not yet been discovered.

Washington Roebling himself would suffer a grave accident as the result of the caissons and decompression sickness when a fire broken out in one of the caissons in 1870 and he would go down into the caisson himself to help fight the fire and direct the firefighting efforts. He would experience some aches and pains coming back out and would head back down the next day with the fire still burning. The result of his repeated long trips would be crippling decompression sickness that left him bed ridden for the remaining 13 years of his life. At this point his wife Emily Warren Roebling would step up to become what we would today call the Field Engineer. She would become the eyes and ears of her husband, and was involved in every step of the construction, including working with the local government to justify the overrun of the original $5M budget and the request of an additional $8M to complete the project. The first female engineer of our podcast would be honoured at the unveiling of the bridge:

Next episode in our season finale we’ll be speaking with an actual bridge engineer about the science of how it was constructed and how we construct bridges today.

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Edited by: Astronomic Audio

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We’ve tackled sewage and drainage before in our London Sewers episode, and today we explore the enormous lengths the city of Chicago has taken to address their water and sewage systems, and how their approach has evolved over more than 150 years.

While Chicago has been a city since 1837, the hugely populated city constructed in low lying wetlands had no central drainage system until 1855 when Chicago’s Chief Sewage Engineer and former Chief Engineer for Boston’s Water Commission, Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough, proposed a sewage system strongly inspired by the plans for the London Interceptor Sewers, a massive undertaking that would be the first of its kind in North America.

The plan would involve routing wastewater into the Chicago River so it could be diluted before reaching Lake Michigan, the source of Chicago’s water supply. The process of constructing this drainage system would involve building pipes on top of the existing wooden-slat style roads, burying these pipes, and building new roads on top. To accommodate for this the majority of buildings in the city would be raised 2-3m, and initiative known at the time as “pulling Chicago out of the mud.” Some buildings that were deemed too challenging to raise would be simply relocated to other areas of the city.

In 1861 the Board of Sewers and Board of Waters were incorporated into a single entity, the Board of Public Works, and Chesborough’s decision to drain Chicago’s sewage into their water supply would now be his responsibility to fix. To help increase the dilution level of the water, 3km of pipes would be laid underneath the lake to extend the intake to a more diluted area of the lake, but as we’ve already learned dilution may go a long way, but it won’t stop diseases like cholera.

After Chesborough’s death in 1886 Rudolph Hering would be assigned to investigate Chicago’s wastewater problem and would conclude a year later that they would need to stop using Lake Michigan as both their sewer and water source. This recommendation would be followed by a number of incremental solutions, from diverting the flow of water away from Lake Michigan into the Illinois River, lowering the level of the lake by 15cm and majorly affecting surrounding areas in the late 1800s, to eventually constructing the first sewage treatment plant in 1920.

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Edited by: Astronomic Audio

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In this special episode our topic is a little less about engineering and a little more about urban planning. We take a journey back in time to the now demolished Kowloon Walled City, a dense settlement occupying a small portion of British-controlled Hong Kong. The small territory remained officially under China’s control, but Britain’s control of the island of Hong Kong left China with little influence, and the abandoned administrative centre would grow organically into a free anarchist state.

There are typically two trains of thought within urban planning: an approach heavy on government intervention, laden with zoning laws, regulation and what we might think of as red tape, compared with an approach of communities that grow organically to serve the needs of the community as and when needed. The Kowloon Walled City was a living example of the second train of thought pushed to the extreme. The 2.6 hectare city was extremely dense, housing up to 50,000 people at its peak with a population density roughly the equivalent of 1 - 2 million people per square kilometre, orders of magnitude higher than the famously crowded Manhattan at 27,000 people per square kilometre, or the 41,000 in the world’s current densest city: Manila.

The density was in no small part due to one of the only building restrictions in the city, a 14-storey height limit so planes could safely fly above the city and land in Hong Kong’s former airport just a short 800 metres south of the city. Despite the limit some photographs depict planes having to nearly navigate around buildings on descent. The city contained not just residential, but also commercial and industrial space including restaurants, schools, and unlicensed doctors and dentists. Absolutely no space was unused leaving absolutely no green space and children playing on rooftops. Buildings were built so close together that even during broad daylight the alleyways were dark and wet from the many air conditioners in the levels above, and many of the buildings leaned against each other.

After Britain had taken control of Hong Kong back from Japan following the second world war thousands of immigrants from China began moving into Kowloon, leading to a total of 2,000 residents by 1947 essentially squatting in the city. At first Britain had attempted to drive the squatters out but gave up and adopted a “hands-off” policy to Kowloon by just 1948. This policy meant a lack of police presence and basic utilities such as power and water, in part to discourage habitation in the city. The lack of power led to most residents using kerosine lamps and stoves resulting in massive fires and huge losses of life. China Light & Power would then be responsible for supplying power to the city, but demand for power consistently exceeded the supply, power theft was very common, and the implementation of the utility was anything but safe.

By 1984 both the Britsh and the Chinese had completely lost any control over the city with crime and lawlessness spilling out into the rest of Hong Kong, leading to its demolition being announced in 1987. The remaining 35,000 residents would be compensated by the government so they might relocate into Hong Kong, however this compensation was only the equivalent today of a meagre $16,00, hardly enough to go far in historically expensive Hong Kong. The demolition would be completed in 1993, just a few years before Britain would cede control of Hong Kong to China in 1997. John leaves us with the understatement of the 20th century: “So, not impressed with the British"

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This episode we examine the Los Angeles aqueducts, which moves water over the Mojave desert and into Los Angeles by gravity alone, and supplied water for a population of 2 million people for over 20 years.

The project is often referred to as the greatest engineering achievement since the Panama Canal, despite the fact that the project includes the construction of the St Francis Dam, which is widely considered the worst American civil engineering disaster of the 20th century. The very first time the dam was filled to capacity it would experience a catastrophic failure, resulting in countless deaths and eventually the establishment of the Board of Civil Engineers being founded in 1929 and the end of the self-trained engineer.

The need for the aqueduct was framed as life or death for Los Angeles, when in reality the water they would redirect to LA would also be enough to supply the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. In the 1920s the Waterson brothers would organize a group of farmers to rebel against the construction of the aqueduct and destruction of their livelihoods in what we now know as the California water wars. Today the Owens Lake is completely dried up, little more than a salt and alkali flats.

The construction of the gargantuan 375km long aqueduct required a great deal of infrastructure to be built just to support construction, and as such was built in sections as the construction of roads and power lines caught up to accommodate construction. Transporting the materials alone was a massive challenge, and led to the creating of the Caterpillar, a tank-like piece of machinery at the time, and today one of the world’s largest construction equipment companies.

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Today’s episode is all about Vivian’s engineering specialty: Railroads. We examine the unbelievable process of constructing Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railroad, which is not just an engineering monument, but a monument to making do without appropriate resources and the challenges that follow corner-cutting.

The construction of the first phase of the railroad began in 1891 under the direction of Emperor Alexander III, and the 9,289km long line from Moscow to Vladivostok crosses at least 7 timezones, 12 regions, 5 territories, 2 republics and 1 autonomous region of Russia, and cost 1.5 billion gold rubles at the time, roughly the equivalent of $20 billion USD in 2015. The railroad was built almost entirely by soldiers and prisoners, and the 90,000 men employed in the construction did so through sheer willpower, without having the appropriate resources available to themselves.

In 1974 a portion of the railroad was rebuilt to reroute further away from China. The new leg of the railroad would be built much farther north on ground that was almost entirely made up of permafrost. With only 90 frost free days each year and winter temperatures of -60C this would present unique challenges, including the unexpected consequence of building on top of permafrost: thawing. To date this section of the railroad has cost more to maintain than the entirety of it’s construction, roughly $14 billion, and the construction would not be completed until 2003, nearly 30 years after construction began.

Despite the enormous challenges in constructing and maintaining the railroad, it continues to handle 50% of Russia’s imports and exports, and the 15 day long end to end journey can also be taken by passengers, and the Circum-Baikal line is especially popular with tourists. While today it is considered the most scenic portion of the railroad hugging the coastline of a beautiful lake, this lake created enormous challenges during the original construction of the line. Originally without a plan for how to safely go around the lake, they would use a system of ferries to move train cars across the lake, and for 5 years using icebreakers to carry the train when the lake froze. In the winter of 1903-1904 the freezing was so extensive they simply laid tracks on the ice and hauled the train cars by horse. Their solution today is much more elegant and includes 14km of retaining wall, 200 bridges, 6 stone viaducts, and 39 tunnels that together total roughly 9km.

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This episode we discuss the highly controversial Three Gorges Dam built on the Yangtze River. Completed in 2012, it is the world’s largest and most expensive hydroelectric dam and the second most expensive project ever undertaken other than the International Space Station.

The dam spans 2.3km, nearly 5 times the distance of the Hoover Dam, and cost approximately $30 billion USD over the 17 years it took to construct. The project was first suggested by China’s first President in 1919 and was officially approved in 1992 for the purpose of controlling flooding along the river, generating power, improving navigation along the river, and generating tourism. The approval finally took place after a lengthy 8 year environmental study, and as John points out, “if your environmental assessment takes 8 years in a dictatorship, there’s a lot to assess.”

And while many of the dams goals have been achieved, reducing flooding in the region from once a decade to once a century, and generating 84.7 billion kilowatt hours of energy every year (or the equivalent of 50 million tonnes of coal) it has been shrouded in controversy and had irreversible impact on the people, wildlife, and historic sites in the region. To date 1.3 million people have been displaced by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, 1,300 excavated and 8,000 unexcavated archeological sites have been flooded and completely lost, and numerous species have been driven to the brink of extinction including the Chinese alligator, the Yangtze River dolphin, the Yangtze soft-shell turtle, and leading to the complete extinction of the Chinese pufferfish.

The Three Gorges Dam and its upstream 12.4 trillion litre reservoir have led to a significant reduction in the speed of the river, and as we learned in Episode 2 - The London Sewers, slow moving rivers lead to a great deal of pollution, and even the massive power generation of this dam only accounts for 1.7% of China’s energy demands.

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Edited by: Astronomic Audio

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