What civil engineers are reading this week

• Innovative approach allows city to rehabilitate deteriorating utility lines

  Cutting-edge technologies reduced the multimillion-dollar costs and timelines associated with extensive excavation projects and preserved charm and accessibility in Leavenworth, Washington.

• Ancient floods reveal today’s extremes aren’t the worst we’ve faced

  Geological paleo-flood records of extreme flooding events in Western Europe over several thousand years reveal that many historical floods were more severe than those of recent decades.

• Safeguarding our health care facilities is a must; here’s how one project accomplished it

  Metropolitan Hospital, which is one block from the East River in New York City, was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Its new flood walls, floodgates, and stormwater detention system bolster safety.

• The economic loss doctrine – where it applies – is a rather imperfect legal shield

  For geotechnical engineers facing legal risk, the doctrine can protect against third-party claims in states where they exist, but it's not easily applied. Here’s how a New Jersey case unfolded.

• Companies that once touted their climate plans have gone quiet

  Mentions of environmental concerns on S&P 500 earnings calls have plunged in the past few years, a Bloomberg analysis finds.

• Starliner’s flight last year was far wilder than we knew

  It was so precarious it reached a point where "I don't know that we can come back to Earth," astronaut Butch Wilmore says. "And matter of fact, I'm thinking we probably can't."