As ASCE Civil Engineering Landmark Madness enters its second week, the madness is only getting madder and madder.
If you found it difficult to decide the round-one matchups, picking between these “Elite Eight” landmarks could literally drive you crazy. These are each landmarks commemorating civil engineering achievements that have shaped our modern world.
“There were lots of great landmarks to choose from in the first round,” said Jonathan Upchurch, a man who, as chair of the ASCE History and Heritage Committee that drew up the bracket, can take some measure of glee in being one of the people responsible for your upcoming voting agony.
“And it's only going to get more difficult to choose as we go.”
ASCE Civil Engineering Landmark Madness celebrates the Society’s Historic Civil Engineering Landmark program. The inaugural bracket features a “Sweet 16” of the greatest railways and roadways.
Voting in the first round closed Sunday night (with more than 2,600 votes cast), sending eight victorious landmarks into the quarterfinals: Route 66, Central Pacific Railroad, the Columbia River Scenic Highway, the First New York Subway, the King’s Road, the Joining of the Rails–Transcontinental Railroad, the Inka Imperial Road, and the Alaska Highway.
The Alaska Highway dominated its matchup with the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway, receiving the most individual votes of the first round.
King’s Road, a transportation line along the Atlantic coast before Florida was a state, emerged as the tournament’s Cinderella story, earning a hard-fought (and perhaps surprising to some) 51.4% to 48.6% win against another bit of ground-breaking transportation, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway of 1830s England.
The matchup between the Columbia River Scenic Highway and the First Concrete Pavement of Bellefontaine, Ohio, was extremely close for a while. The first 160 votes were split dead down the middle, 80 to 80. Fans of the Columbia River Scenic Highway came out in full-force from there, though, sending the Pacific Northwest gem into the quarterfinals.
“The Columbia River Scenic Highway is quite beautiful,” said Upchurch, who has visited 13 of the bracket’s 16 landmarks. “It was engineered in the early 20th century. I think the roadway designers did a fantastic job.”
And now it’s on to the next round. Voting opens Monday, March 16, and runs through Sunday, March 22, before we do it all again for the semifinals.
The complete first-round results
- Route 66: 73.1% vs. Allegheny Portage Railroad: 26.9%
- Central Pacific Railroad: 70.1% vs. National Road: 29.9%
- Columbia River Scenic Highway: 57.7% vs. First Concrete Pavement: 42.3%
- First New York Subway: 68.2% vs. White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad: 31.8%
- King’s Road: 51.4% vs. Liverpool and Manchester Railway: 48.6%
- Joining of the Rails: 70.1% vs. Mount Washington Cog Railway: 29.9%
- Inka Imperial Road: 67.0% vs. Union Pacific Railroad: 33.0%
- Alaska Highway: 75.7% vs. Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway: 24.3%
Vote in the Elite Eight of ASCE Civil Engineering Landmark Madness 2026.
