Like many other people this morning I had to find a new way to work because of roadworks. It took me twice as long as usual to get there. It is all a bit stressful and frustrating. However, its also quite impressive. An enormous amount of work is being done on our earthquake stricken streets and SCIRT – the organisation in charge of it – has just received recognition of its excellent work from the Institution of Civil Engineers in London. It has been awarded the Brunel Medal which:
recognises valuable service or achievement, which has been rendered to or within the civil engineering industry.
Having watched people in hard hats spend months staring down a large and recalcitrant hole in Edgeware Road – a problem that took a couple of years to solve – I feel quite certain that our hard-working roading engineers deserve all the recognition they can get.
It seems entirely appropriate that they should receive a medal named after the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, designer of so many other important transport engineering like railways, bridges and ships.
- Find out more about Brunel at your library.
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 
Talking of large holes – this fascinating story from SCIRT about the Richmond area http://strongerchristchurch.govt.nz/article/the-volume-of-water-was-amazing-richmond-site-engineer
As a Richmond resident I’m not surprised – there are a few historic artesian wells in back yards that were jolly handy post quake. I don’t know about SCIRT’s engineering but I do like their communication.
I try and not get too hung up about the roads, yes it can be frustrating, but after I learnt we have to fix pipes that are equivalent in length to the distance from here to Auckland and we’re only as far a Kaikoura… I try and be patient and send good thoughts to the folks working round the clock to fix our lovely city for us.