America's Greatest Projects & Their Engineers - The Alaska Pipeline

In America's Greatest Projects & Their Engineers - The Alaska Pipeline, you'll learn ...

• Challenges associated with transporting oil hundreds of miles in the harsh environment of Alaska
• Why much of the Transa-Alaska Pipeline is elevated above ground, rather than buried
• Environmental and political obstacles faced by the project team
• Details of the design, materials, construction, testing and startup of the pipeline, pumping stations and the Valdez Marine Terminal

Overview

Preview a portion of this course before purchasing it.

Credit: 5 PDH

Length: 44 pages

American engineers achieved phenomenal success by creating the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, a project that many thought was almost impossible for a variety of reasons. Not only was the climate against them, but they also had to deal with the environment, the ecology, mountain ranges, and precipitous canyons at every turn. This latest course in the series of America's Greatest Projects and Their Engineers once again describes the nearly overwhelming challenges that were encountered by the engineers as well as the construction teams. This course, however, offers more insight and considerably more drama since the author had access to the daily journals of those who actually performed the project tasks. Nevertheless, this course discusses the engineering challenges of the 1970's and how they relate to the basic concepts of modern engineering such as:

• Determining how this project benefitted Americans in particular.
• Getting a behind-the-scenes account of great project development and management.
• Seeing how government representation both prolonged and accelerated the project.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) was the largest privately funded project up until it was first transporting crude oil in 1977. While the cost of more than $8 billion was staggering, the many environmental and ecological challenges that Alyeska and its engineers and sub-contractors faced was equally compelling. The wisdom of the Alyeska Task Group engineers was equally complemented by the many engineers and sub-contractors under the direction of The Bechtel Corporation as well as Fluor-Alaska. The project, despite numerous delays, came on stream at an opportune time for our nation. It solidified the United States as being self-reliant on our energy needs.

The first part of this course focuses on the decision by Alyeska and its predecessor TAPS to move forward with an extremely difficult, if not impossible, project. The second part describes in great detail the efforts of the many engineers and others to overcome the political roadblocks and design/construction challenges that were being encountered. This project emphasizes the tenacity and wisdom of key people in the private sector who combined their considerable talents to complete such an enormous project that is still a great benefit to the United States today.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• The challenges of procuring 48” SAW pipe in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s
• Innovative solutions to the problem of transporting pipe to the construction site
• Special design conditions due to the cold climate and the rugged terrain
• Why TAPS moved forward with the project despite lack of government approval.
• Why the TAPS plans did not materialize in the early years of the project.
• The role that the federal government officials can play in the disapproval or acceleration of even a large, privately funded project.
• How leadership played such a major factor in one of the most significant projects in the history of the United States.
• How the Alyeska Task Group continued to emphasize quality control even during the lengthy delay process.
• The obstacles that confronted the Project Team members and the unique techniques that were implemented.

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 30 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.