6/8: Sinking airport

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[quote]Originally posted by stmfreak
Engineers predicted the land-fill island would sink either 19 or 27 feet. The problem was they'd never estimated compression of the deep clay present three miles out. They knew this was a risk, but these were the best estimates they could make. The contractor(government?) made a bet on the cheaper 19' estimate. After the landfill was mostly done, it had already sunk more than those 19', whoops. They had to add an extra 15' of fill (the numbers were all kind of hazy and it should be underwater by 2007 or so if accurate).
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Of course this does not include the effects of Global Warming. The British recently discussed a coastal area devestated by a 1953 hurricane. Engineers recommended that the ocean flood plain not be rebuilt. Politicans knew better. The area is now home to 40,000 and now is also subject to problems associated with global warming.

Why do they mention globabl warming? Get outside the US and it still discussed weekly - without mentioning the name of the man they most associate with the problem - George Jr.