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  • One build story every SundayA short read on one structure or machine: what it is, what nearly broke it, how it was solved.
  • The new episode first in the emailWhen an episode is out, it leads that Sunday's email, with a link to watch on YouTube.
  • The numbers nobody tells youKey figures pulled from the research, each one with its source.
  • The free PDF10 Megaprojects That Shouldn't Have Worked. One fact card each: key numbers, why it nearly failed, and every fact sourced. Sent with the welcome email.
  • Sources in every issueNumbered, linked and matched to the episode page.
  • Nothing elseOne email a week, double opt in, unsubscribe any time. We never sell or share your address.

Sample issue

What a Sunday looks like

Steel & Speed · Sunday email · Sample

The river that wants to move

The Mississippi has a shorter way to the Gulf. From the Old River area, its current route runs about 315 miles past Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The Atchafalaya path is about 142 miles. S1

Around 1850 the Atchafalaya carried under 10 percent of the combined flow. By 1950 it carried about 30 percent. S8 Congress authorized the Old River Control Project on September 3, 1954, to hold the split at about 70 to 30. S1

The numbers nobody tells you

  • April 12, 1973: a scour hole exposed about 50 feet of the 90 foot steel piles under the Low Sill Structure. S1
  • April 17, 1973: the Morganza Spillway opened for the first time, 42 of its 125 gates. S9
  • The safe head limit fell from 37 feet to 13, then rose to 22 after repairs. S1, S2
  • The Auxiliary Structure: July 1981 to December 1986, $206 million. S1

This week's episode

The Louisiana Structure That Keeps the Mississippi From Changing Course. Megaprojects of America, Part 1 of 7.

Watch on YouTube

Sources

  1. S1. USACE New Orleans District, Old River Control brochure, Jan 2009.
  2. S2. US Army ERDC, Stability Analysis of Old River Low Sill Structure, DTIC AD1179902.
  3. S8. Wikipedia, Old River Control Structure, read Oct 12, 2026.
  4. S9. Wikipedia, Morganza Spillway, and ENR, Morganza Floodway Opening Imminent, 2011.

Full list on the episode page.

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