Aspects of the Bay Bridge and the Ethical Problems Surrounding this Project (Essay Sample)

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San Francisco Bay Bridge
In the early 1900, engineers used to accomplish big projects such as the construction of bridges in time and within the given budget without any problem at all. Today, engineers take long time to accomplish such projects and finish money that was given to finish the project. The difference in the current engineers from the previous engineers raises a question on what has caused the drastic change in the field of engineering that was not there about eighty years ago. The engineers or the technology may not cause the drastic shift; these have just improved over time. The current engineers are faced with more task than just designing and building the infrastructure as they used to do before. Today, the compete for funds with the politicians, struggle to see the safety of workers is guaranteed and try to protect the environment by adhering to the laws which have been enacted by the governments. With this trend, we expect to see projects in the future taking longer periods than expected and consuming more costs and materials. The Bay Bridge, which connects the cities of San Fransisco and Oakland in California, is a perfect project that illustrates how the engineers have abandoned their code of ethics and what they are expected to be doing.
Built in the 1930s, Bay Bridge became an icon in California. 80 year later, the bridge had to be rebuilt to conform to the current standards of infrastructure, little did the committee that commissioned it to be rebuilt knew that the bridge will experience many problems from the modern engineers. The bridge now has many problems in all aspects to ethical conduct of the engineers rebuilding it. Bay Bridge is said to be having tiny cracks when the engineers were fixing a lean in the landmark tower. When the tower was being pulled into position, a great tension was felt that caused the cracks. The engineers did not take all the precautionary measures when they were fixing the tower. In case of a large earthquake, there will be a safety threat to the bridge (Derbeken). This shows that the problem which was supposed to be solved after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake which caused a section of the bridge to collapse.
The reconstruction of the bridge has more ethical problems that surround it than the aspect problems. First, the engineers are not independent as well as the some members from the panel that reviewed the foundations of the bridge. Four members from the panel are said to be having financial ties with the Caltrans and three helped to solve the conflict of interest about the design of the bridge. The panel was said that is independent but it is not (Piller). This may make the bridge to be built with below standards that may cause a problem in the future. The research on the standards of the bridge that is supposed to be done by the panel is...