Ah, those inspirational Germans! by Melis A. '08

Sometimes, when things just don’t go your way, it’s easy to get depressed and start asking yourself “Why am I here? What am I doing with my life?” I was a bit down in the dumps when I got this email from my mom about a recently completed water-channel bridge in Germany.

Isn’t that the coolest bridge ever? I’m not Course 1 (Civil and Environmental Engineering) but this picture made me envious of everyone who is. The bridge is 0.57 miles long, cost 500 million euros, and took six years to build and over eighty to plan. It functions as a giant bathtub, connecting two important shipping canals by crossing over the Elbe River. Without the water-bridge, this connection is dangerous, long, and unreliable.

Some experts speculate that the Magdeburg Bridge will increase shipping volumes from the current 4 million tons per year to 7 million tons of goods in 2015. Some environmental groups are trying to halt plans for more canal expansions because they fear that bringing in bigger boats to Berlin and Brandenburg would negatively affect the natural water supply and threaten culture heritage.

In any case, I hope this motivates everyone to be an engineer! Engineers rock.

Pictures and information from: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,990878,00.html and http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/waterbridge.asp