170 harned. HIGHWAY BRIDGE FOUNDATIONS [Ch. 9 



the natural foundation conditions at each structure site. Obviously 

 this goal can be accomplished only through the development and use 

 of trained personnel and special-purpose tools. 



The list of references at the end of the chapter has been carefully 

 selected for the benefit of those who may desire reference to technical 

 discussions of the various aspects of foundation investigation and in- 

 terpretation practices. 



PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS 



Men charged with the conduct and interpretation of foundation in- 

 vestigations for highway structures hold responsible positions. It is 

 extremely important that an accurate picture of existing conditions be 

 obtained for design purposes, and it is equally important that con- 

 struction operations actually encounter predicted conditions in order 

 that costly delays in construction, redesign requirements, contract 

 change orders, legal suits, and, in extreme cases, structural failures may 

 be avoided. 



The choice of the foundation type alone may seriously influence the 

 economics of a project. For example, a careful estimate revealed that, 

 for some seventeen of the many separation structures to be constructed 

 on one of the freeways through the City of Los Angeles, the State of 

 California would realize a saving in excess of one million dollars in the 

 event that the sediment was capable of supporting the loads on footing 

 foundations and pile supports could be eliminated. Determinations of 

 this sort require precise measurements and careful consideration by 

 well-trained and experienced personnel if the bridge engineer is to 

 have sufficient confidence in the recommendations he receives to design 

 and construct accordingly. 



It is anticipated that many universities and colleges will follow the 

 recent example of the few that have inaugurated curricula in engineer- 

 ing geology for the purpose of training interested students for this im- 

 portant field of geologic application. It is hoped that the term en- 

 gineering geology will be interpreted in its proper light and that steps 

 will be taken to insure that students who enter this field through in- 

 terest and choice will be encouraged to obtain an educational back- 

 ground in civil engineering as well as geology. 



The "make it stout" complex so prevalent among substructure de- 

 signers today is the natural outgrowth of works without faith. We 

 can have little faith without understanding and little understanding 

 without knowledge born of interest. Consequently foundation studies 

 should be conducted by men whose prime professional purpose in life 



