Why We Need Renaissance Engineers: Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit Phase II Case Study

Abstract

In today’s world of specialization, civil engineers may benefit from a return to an earlier period when breadth of knowledge, skills, and attitudes were appreciated: the Renaissance era. A broad set of skills is especially important in meeting the challenges of restoring deteriorating infrastructure and working with restricted financing. This paper presents the case of the Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit Phase II Project to illustrate how important it is for civil engineers to possess solid technical expertise coupled with a cross-disciplinary knowledge of design and construction to achieve project success. These qualities allowed the engineers to integrate