Gary S' 2010 Summer Challenge - Bridge

[nachoman]

Way to go, Kevin Shanley, AIA ... that's usin' the ol' noggin for more that a hat rack!

Or probably just realized mother nature meanders streams for a reason . The US Army corps of engineers developed stream modeling software called HEC-RAS, and Mr. Shanley probably just played around with the software little bit and realized natural channels are usually pretty darned effective at moving water and sediment. Things like artificial levees and seawalls usually just make the problem worse downstream or more costly at a later date. My mostly uneducated guess is a large reason for the Houston flooding problems had to do with the development of impervious surfaces (parking lots and rooftops) that allow for rapid and total runoff that quickly overwhelmed the existing channel system. In other words, upstream development of roads and parking lots created flooding and erosion problems for those who lived downstream. The artificial meanders not only look more appealing, but they help to slow things down and allow for some infiltration, sparing the downstream folks from the effects of rapid runoff.