Ole Singstad
Encyclopedia
Ole Knutsen Singstad was a Norwegian-American civil engineer
who innovated the ventilation system for the Holland Tunnel
(which subsequently became commonly used in other automotive tunnels) and advanced the use of the "Sunk-tube" method of underwater vehicular tunnel building, a system of constructing the tunnels with prefabricated sections.
By 1950 Singstad had designed and overseen the construction of more underwater tunnels than all other engineers combined.
(now Agdenes
) in Sør-Trøndelag
, Norway
. He was the seventh of nine children born to Knut Jacobsen Singstad (17 Mai 1831- 24 Nov 1906) and Anne Mikkelsd Auset Singstad (10 Jul 1843-30 Apr 1947).
In 1898 Singstad went to Ålesund to study grammar school. Later, his sister Marie, a midwife, encouraged Singstad to further his education. He studied at the Trondheim
Technical School from 1901–1905, where he was chairman of the student body. In 1905, he emigrated to the USA
. He became a U.S. citizen in 1911.
. In 1907, he moved to Norfolk, Virginia
, where he worked on railroads and bridges for the Virginian Railway
. He returned to New York
and worked at the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, designing tunnels under the Hudson River
in 1909-1910, and later spent seven years in charge of work on subways and rail tunnels in Manhattan
, Brooklyn
, and under the East River
. During this time he worked with Clifford Holland
for the New York Public Service Commission of the first district of New York.
In 1917-1918, Singstad worked at the Chile Exploration Company
, and in 1918-1919 he worked with Barclay, Parsons, and Klapp (now Parsons Brinckerhoff
), where he was in charge of designing a rapid-transit system for Philadelphia, and made preliminary designs for a vehicular tunnel under the Delaware River
.
under the Hudson River
. He began working under chief engineer Clifford Milburn Holland
in 1915, and he finished directing construction of the Holland Tunnel after the death of Holland in the fall of 1924 and of Holland's successor Milton H. Freeman, who died in March 1925.
Singstad also designed the Lincoln Tunnel
, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, the latter two as chief engineer of the New York City Tunnel Authority, in which capacity he clashed with Robert Moses
, who preferred bridges:
In 1946, the Tunnel Authority was merged with (rather, taken over by) the Triborough Bridge Authority, forming the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
, whereupon Singstad was fired, and the incomplete Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was finished to Moses's specifications. This new design leaked, and the TBTA fixed the leaks by reverting to Singstad's original design.
From 1930-1933 he designed and led construction of the tunnel under the Schelde River in Antwerp. The Belgians attempted to explode the tunnel on their retreat in 1940 and later the Germans tried to explode the tunnel when they withdrew in 1944. The tunnel held each time.
Singstad also designed tunnels in Argentina
, Canada
, Cuba
, and Venezuela
.
had contended it was impossible to ventilate a tunnel with the volume of traffic envisioned for the Holland Tunnel. Previously, tunnels had been ventilated longitudinally. Singstad pioneered a system of ventilating the tunnel transversely.
Working with Yale University
and the United States Bureau of Mines
, Singstad built a test tunnel in the bureau's experimental mine at Bruceton, Pennsylvania
over 400 feet long — where cars were lined up with engines running. Volunteer students were supervised as they breathed the exhaust in order to confirm air flows and tolerable carbon-monoxide levels by simulating different traffic conditions, including backups. Singstad concluded that a conventional, longitudinal ventilation system would have to be pressurized to an air flow rate of 27 m/s along the tunnel.
Singstad designed a tri-level tunnel with the large middle section accommodating vehicles and two plenums
, a lower and upper plenum each respectively supplying fresh air and exhausting fumes at regular intervals — solving the ventilation problem.
On opening day the average carbon monoxide content in both tunnels was .69 part per 10,000 parts of air. The highest was 1.60 parts per 10,000. The permissible standard was 4 parts per 10,000 parts of air. The public and the press proclaimed air conditions were actually better in the tube than in some streets of New York City.
had been used — with the constant danger of divers suffering the bends
, and the necessity for constant diligence. A sunk-tube method had been earlier proposed and used by Olaf Hoff on the Detroit River
tunnel and Harlem River
Tunnel.
Singstad advanced Hoff's ideas and proposed first digging a large ditch in the river bottom and lowering cable-suspended pre-fabricated tunnel sections 90 meters in length (weighing 23,000 tons each) into the ditch from overhead barges. Interior chambers were filled with water to lower the sections, the sections then aligned, bolted together by divers, the water pumped out, and the tunnels finally covered with earth. This technique was followed in numerous later tunnel projects by other engineers, on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, for example.
, Brooklyn, New York.
Singstad returned to Norway five times in his life: first for his mother's 80th birthday in 1923 and subsequently to Lensvik
in 1930 as well as 1933 while working on the tunnel at the river Schelde. He missed his mother's 100th birthday in 1943 because of the war
, then returned in 1953 and again a final time in 1967 at age 85, still active in his consulting firm.
He was an avid fisherman.
Newark, New Jersey.
Singstad was elected president of the American Council of Engineering Companies during 1941; he and Søren Anton Thoresen received gold medals and were decorated by King Albert I of Belgium
for their work on the Waasland
tunnel; a wooden statue has been erected in his honor at Lensvik Samfunnshus; and in 2008, a lecture in his honor was held at the Museum of Modern Art
.
Singstad was named 1933 Officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium, received the 1939 Ridder order of First Class, the 1956 Medal of Honor from the American Society of Engineers and the 1960 Commander of the Chilean Order of Merit.
At age 48, Singstad received the Royal Norwegian Academy of Science Society, an award normally reserved for much older men.
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
who innovated the ventilation system for the Holland Tunnel
Holland Tunnel
The Holland Tunnel is a highway tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey at Interstate 78 on the mainland. Unusual for an American public works project, it is not named for a government official, politician, or local hero or...
(which subsequently became commonly used in other automotive tunnels) and advanced the use of the "Sunk-tube" method of underwater vehicular tunnel building, a system of constructing the tunnels with prefabricated sections.
By 1950 Singstad had designed and overseen the construction of more underwater tunnels than all other engineers combined.
Early life
Ole Singstad was born at Singstad farm in LensvikLensvik
Lensvik is a village and former municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The former municipality is now located in the present-day municipality of Agdenes on the west side of the Trondheimsfjord. The village of Lensvik is just to the north of Selbekken, the administrative center of the...
(now Agdenes
Agdenes
Agdenes is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre is the village of Selbekken. Other villages in the municipality include Ingdalen, Lensvik, Vassbygda, and Leksa.-General information:...
) in Sør-Trøndelag
Sør-Trøndelag
- References :...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. He was the seventh of nine children born to Knut Jacobsen Singstad (17 Mai 1831- 24 Nov 1906) and Anne Mikkelsd Auset Singstad (10 Jul 1843-30 Apr 1947).
In 1898 Singstad went to Ålesund to study grammar school. Later, his sister Marie, a midwife, encouraged Singstad to further his education. He studied at the Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
Technical School from 1901–1905, where he was chairman of the student body. In 1905, he emigrated to the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He became a U.S. citizen in 1911.
Early work
Ole Singstad first worked for the Central Railroad of New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. In 1907, he moved to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, where he worked on railroads and bridges for the Virginian Railway
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
. He returned to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and worked at the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, designing tunnels under the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
in 1909-1910, and later spent seven years in charge of work on subways and rail tunnels in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, and under the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
. During this time he worked with Clifford Holland
Clifford Milburn Holland
Clifford Milburn Holland was born in Somerset, Massachusetts. He was the only child of Edward John Holland and Lydia Frances Hood. He graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in 1905 and a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1906. On November 5, 1908 he married Anna Coolidge Davenport...
for the New York Public Service Commission of the first district of New York.
In 1917-1918, Singstad worked at the Chile Exploration Company
Chuquicamata
Chuquicamata, or "Chuqui" as it is more familiarly known, is by digged volume the biggest open pit copper mine in the world, located in the north of Chile, 215 km northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km north of the capital, Santiago...
, and in 1918-1919 he worked with Barclay, Parsons, and Klapp (now Parsons Brinckerhoff
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Parsons Brinckerhoff is a professional services firm with 14,000 employees in 150 offices providing construction and operation management, planning, design, engineering, program management, strategic consulting, environmental and sustainability services for clients and communities in the Americas,...
), where he was in charge of designing a rapid-transit system for Philadelphia, and made preliminary designs for a vehicular tunnel under the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
.
NYC tunnels
Singstad is widely known for work on the underwater road tunnels in New York City, and for designing the ventilation system that made long underwater road tunnels possible, first used in the Holland TunnelHolland Tunnel
The Holland Tunnel is a highway tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey at Interstate 78 on the mainland. Unusual for an American public works project, it is not named for a government official, politician, or local hero or...
under the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. He began working under chief engineer Clifford Milburn Holland
Clifford Milburn Holland
Clifford Milburn Holland was born in Somerset, Massachusetts. He was the only child of Edward John Holland and Lydia Frances Hood. He graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in 1905 and a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1906. On November 5, 1908 he married Anna Coolidge Davenport...
in 1915, and he finished directing construction of the Holland Tunnel after the death of Holland in the fall of 1924 and of Holland's successor Milton H. Freeman, who died in March 1925.
Singstad also designed the Lincoln Tunnel
Lincoln Tunnel
The Lincoln Tunnel is a long tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and the borough of Manhattan in New York City.-History:...
, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
Interstate 478s entire length consists of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and its approaches. Its south end is at Interstate 278, and its north end is at NY 9A ....
and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, the latter two as chief engineer of the New York City Tunnel Authority, in which capacity he clashed with Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
, who preferred bridges:
In 1946, the Tunnel Authority was merged with (rather, taken over by) the Triborough Bridge Authority, forming the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
MTA Bridges and Tunnels, legal name Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, is a division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, that operates seven intrastate toll bridges and two tunnels in New York City...
, whereupon Singstad was fired, and the incomplete Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was finished to Moses's specifications. This new design leaked, and the TBTA fixed the leaks by reverting to Singstad's original design.
Other work
Singstad was instrumental in numerous underwater vehicular tunnels worldwide.From 1930-1933 he designed and led construction of the tunnel under the Schelde River in Antwerp. The Belgians attempted to explode the tunnel on their retreat in 1940 and later the Germans tried to explode the tunnel when they withdrew in 1944. The tunnel held each time.
- He consulted on the Posey Tube, the second one, which used the same ventilation system that he had designed for the Holland Tunnel.
- He consulted on the Detroit–Windsor TunnelDetroit–Windsor TunnelThe Detroit–Windsor Tunnel is an underwater highway tunnel connecting Detroit, Michigan in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario in Canada. It was completed in 1930....
, the third one, designed by fellow Norwegian-American engineer Søren Anton Thoresen, and designed the ventilation system. - With Thoresen, he designed the WaaslandWaaslandThe Waasland is a region in Flanders, Belgium, although without any administrative functions. It is also called the Land van Waas ; Waas most likely refers to the soggy soil of the region even though the exact etymology is unknown - one possibility is a connection to the English word 'wasteland'...
tunnel under the river ScheldtScheldtThe Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...
in Antwerp, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. On this project, Singstad designed the lining, the tunnel shield, the ventilation, and the equipment. - He established the company Singstad and Kehart Consulting Engineers in 1945, which with 50 to 60 staff engineers engineered the final design of The Big Walker Mountain TunnelBig Walker Mountain TunnelThe Big Walker Mountain Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel in the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia that carries Interstate 77 through/under Big Walker Mountain...
in VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. - With his firm Singstad and Baillie in New York, he designed the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, which opened in 1957.
Singstad also designed tunnels in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
Ventilating the Holland Tunnel
Thomas EdisonThomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
had contended it was impossible to ventilate a tunnel with the volume of traffic envisioned for the Holland Tunnel. Previously, tunnels had been ventilated longitudinally. Singstad pioneered a system of ventilating the tunnel transversely.
Working with Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and the United States Bureau of Mines
United States Bureau of Mines
For most of the 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was the primary United States Government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral resources.- Summary :...
, Singstad built a test tunnel in the bureau's experimental mine at Bruceton, Pennsylvania
Bruceton, Pennsylvania
Bruceton is an unincorporated community in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the home of an experimental mine of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, which originally opened in 1910. It is also the home of the Pittsburgh Safety and Health Technology Center. The Pittsburgh and West...
over 400 feet long — where cars were lined up with engines running. Volunteer students were supervised as they breathed the exhaust in order to confirm air flows and tolerable carbon-monoxide levels by simulating different traffic conditions, including backups. Singstad concluded that a conventional, longitudinal ventilation system would have to be pressurized to an air flow rate of 27 m/s along the tunnel.
Singstad designed a tri-level tunnel with the large middle section accommodating vehicles and two plenums
HVAC
HVAC refers to technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer...
, a lower and upper plenum each respectively supplying fresh air and exhausting fumes at regular intervals — solving the ventilation problem.
On opening day the average carbon monoxide content in both tunnels was .69 part per 10,000 parts of air. The highest was 1.60 parts per 10,000. The permissible standard was 4 parts per 10,000 parts of air. The public and the press proclaimed air conditions were actually better in the tube than in some streets of New York City.
Prefabricated tunnel sections
During construction of Baltimore Harbor Tunnel from 1955 to 1957 Singstad adopted a cost-saving method for the construction of the tunnel in the river mud. Previously, hydraulic shields or pressurized caissonsCaisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working...
had been used — with the constant danger of divers suffering the bends
The Bends
The Bends is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. The Bends was produced by John Leckie at EMI's studios in London, and engineered by Nigel Godrich, who would go on to produce all future albums by the band...
, and the necessity for constant diligence. A sunk-tube method had been earlier proposed and used by Olaf Hoff on the Detroit River
Detroit River
The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...
tunnel and Harlem River
Harlem River
The Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...
Tunnel.
Singstad advanced Hoff's ideas and proposed first digging a large ditch in the river bottom and lowering cable-suspended pre-fabricated tunnel sections 90 meters in length (weighing 23,000 tons each) into the ditch from overhead barges. Interior chambers were filled with water to lower the sections, the sections then aligned, bolted together by divers, the water pumped out, and the tunnels finally covered with earth. This technique was followed in numerous later tunnel projects by other engineers, on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, for example.
Personal
Ole Singstad married Else Johansen (June 28, 1890 – July 8, 1964). Together they had two children, Rita (2 May 1918 – 3 May 1975) and Paul (25 Apr 1925 – 27 Mar 1976). Singstad died on December 8, 1969; at the time he lived on Fifth Avenue in New York City. He is buried at the Green-Wood CemeteryGreen-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...
, Brooklyn, New York.
Singstad returned to Norway five times in his life: first for his mother's 80th birthday in 1923 and subsequently to Lensvik
Lensvik
Lensvik is a village and former municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The former municipality is now located in the present-day municipality of Agdenes on the west side of the Trondheimsfjord. The village of Lensvik is just to the north of Selbekken, the administrative center of the...
in 1930 as well as 1933 while working on the tunnel at the river Schelde. He missed his mother's 100th birthday in 1943 because of the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, then returned in 1953 and again a final time in 1967 at age 85, still active in his consulting firm.
He was an avid fisherman.
Honors and awards
Singstad received honorary doctorates from the Stephens Institute of Technology; the New York Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn; St.Olaf College of Northfield, Minnesota; and the College of EngineeringCollege Of Engineering
A college of engineering generally refers to an institute which offers engineering course at undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level. Either these institutes are part of a university or are affiliated to some university. The duration of the undergraduate course is four to five years depending...
Newark, New Jersey.
Singstad was elected president of the American Council of Engineering Companies during 1941; he and Søren Anton Thoresen received gold medals and were decorated by King Albert I of Belgium
Albert I of Belgium
Albert I reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 until 1934.-Early life:Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad in Brussels, he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen...
for their work on the Waasland
Waasland
The Waasland is a region in Flanders, Belgium, although without any administrative functions. It is also called the Land van Waas ; Waas most likely refers to the soggy soil of the region even though the exact etymology is unknown - one possibility is a connection to the English word 'wasteland'...
tunnel; a wooden statue has been erected in his honor at Lensvik Samfunnshus; and in 2008, a lecture in his honor was held at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
Singstad was named 1933 Officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium, received the 1939 Ridder order of First Class, the 1956 Medal of Honor from the American Society of Engineers and the 1960 Commander of the Chilean Order of Merit.
At age 48, Singstad received the Royal Norwegian Academy of Science Society, an award normally reserved for much older men.
Primary Source
- Saga in Steel and Concrete is posted in sections at: Norway-L archives 2003-04 Norway-L archives 2003-05