Engineering Inc. - March/April 2009 - 14

1 9 5 0 –1959 The History of A C E C e 1950s saw a huge growth in private engineering practice as 1,462 new firms set up shop, more than doubling the national total to 2,749. AICE actively supported legislation signed into law in June 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to create the Interstate Highway System. Called the “greatest public works project in history,” it put thousands of engineers to work under a $33.4 billion program to construct a 41,000-mile national highway network. The same year, representatives of 10 state associations of consulting engineers met in Tulsa, Okla., and formed a new nationwide association to promote the business interests of engineers in private practice— In 1957, HDR won its first major highway design project, the $9 million Grover Street the Consulting Engineers Council (CEC). Though Interchange in Omaha, Neb., for the Interstate Highway System. (Photo courtesy of HDR) the group had considered AICE for this role, it determined that AICE had never truly developed a FIDIC represents 75 countries, with ACEC as its national reach. largest member. The new organization had an initial membership of 494 indiIn addition to the Interstate Highway System, viduals and firms, dwarfing AICE’s membership of 200 engineers. consulting engineers helped the nation achieve two It didn’t wait long to make its presence felt. In late 1956, the other important engineering milestones during the Council won a landmark change in the Department of the Interior’s Contract Negotiation Procedural Manual to eliminate requests decade: the Shippingport Atomic Power Station (1957), the world’s first full-scale atomic power for competitive bids. plant devoted exclusively to electricity generation; In 1957, CEC hired its first executive secretary, Larry Spiller, to and the St. Lawrence Seaway (1959), the canal syswork out of its new offices in Springfield, Ill. Spiller would serve tem that allows vessels to travel from the Atlantic the Council for the next 28 years. Ocean to the Great Lakes. In 1959, CEC retained its first Washington, D.C., representaBy the end of the decade, CEC had 29 Member tive, Lyle Jones, charged with “keeping members informed on all Organizations representing more than 1,000 firms. government matters affecting engineers in private practice.” It published a Manual of Practice, established a The same year, the Council joined the International group liability insurance program and engaged in Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), which at the time an active advocacy effort. consisted of engineering associations from 10 countries. Today, 14 ENGINEERING INC. MaRCh / apRIl 2009 Th Led by a hydraulic engineer from Stanley Engineering Company (now Stanley Consultants), this 1958 reconnaissance party is assessing the feasibility of the St. John River falls in Liberia as a possible location for a hydroelectric plant. (Photo courtesy of Stanley Consultants, Inc.)
Engineering Inc. - March/April 2009

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