Biggest construction objects
We will cover some of the biggest, most extreme objects ever created that made their way into the record books.
Let’s start with The World's Tallest Tower.
Upon completion, the Tokyo Skytree overshadowed a 50-year-old landmark in Tokyo. Built in 1958, The Tokyo Tower was the tallest freestanding tower in the world at the time
It was 333 meters tall and served as the main broadcasting tower for the city over the next five decades. However, as more skyscrapers started rising into the city skies, the Tokyo Tower's transmission signals were often interrupted. The problem kept growing, and it was time to replace the old tower. So in 2008, construction began on a tower much taller than its predecessor.
Close to one hundred architects and engineers were involved in the designing process for the Tokyo Skytree. Its design is inspired by traditional Japanese architecture with its curves built like the blade of a samurai sword. When designing the Tokyo Skytree, a key consideration for the planners was to avoid damage from earthquakes. Japan has over 10 percent of all earthquakes in the world and building the world's tallest. Tower presented many risks if another big earthquake hit the Capital. To counter any negative impacts of an earthquake, the tower is designed with a Triangular Base and three legs, similar to a tripod. The whole structure is built around central pillars to reduce tremors and damage during an earthquake. With the use of these advanced techniques, the tower is able to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8.0.
After a detailed construction process of 4 years, the Tokyo Skytree was finally completed in 2012. Standing at 634 meters tall, it is the tallest tower in the world, breaking the previous record held by China's Canton Tower. It was built at a cost of 800 million dollars and will now serve as the biggest broadcasting tower in the country. By almost doubling the height, the new broadcasting tower will avoid signal clashes with the city's ever-increasing skyscrapers and will provide smooth TV and radio transmission from the top of Tokyo. The Tokyo Skytree also serves as an observation Tower for tourists. It has two observation decks located at heights of 350 meters and 450 meters above the ground. The tower has had over 300 million visitors since its opening in 2012. In addition to taking the world record for Tower height, it is also the second tallest structure in the world behind the 830 meters tall Burj Khalifa.
However, the Tokyo Skytree is not considered to be a skyscraper or a building because it is not habitable. As for its world record, the tower will soon face competition from Dubai as they are planning to build the first 1000 meter tall tower. We will continue talking about Tall megaprojects with a look into. The Tallest Bridge in the World The Millau Viaduct in Southern France is the tallest bridge in the world. It is even taller than the Eiffel Tower and reaches a height of 336 meters. The bridge was built at a cost of 424 million dollars and is much taller than some of the most famous bridges in the world. It is more than 100 meters taller than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and 4 times as tall as New York’s iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Opened in 2005, the Millau Viaduct not only found a place in the record books but also solved a major traffic congestion problem It is part of the A-75 motorway that connects.
Paris to Barcelona. Travelers suffered several delays on the old A-75 because of the twisted route and heightened traffic during the summer vacations. The construction of the Millau Viaduct began in 2001 and many innovative engineering techniques were used to build it.
The bridge is supported by 7 pylons
Emerging from 15 meter deep shafts and going as high as 244 meters.
Instead of installing the bridge in sections, the deck was built entirely on plateaus and then pushed into the middle using a complex hydraulics system. The bridge supports a curved design to protect travelers from a floating sensation at such heights above the ground. Side screens are used to negate wind effects while it is slightly inclined to improve visibility for the drivers. Despite the complex design and great height, this megaproject was completed in just 3 years.
The finally finished bridge bypassed the valley of Millau and connected two sections of the motorway. Over the years it has proved to be a hugely successful project with over five million vehicles using the bridge every year. The Millau Viaduct is the tallest bridge in the world in terms of architectural height but it isn't the highest. That record is held by Duge Bridge in China which is located at a height of 565 meters above the Beipan River. The towers that carry the Duge bridge are only 269 meters tall, making it only the 11th. Tallest bridge in the world. China is also home to the world's longest bridge: The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge which is part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. It was opened in 2011 and is 165 kilometers long.
Moving on we have. The Biggest Airport in the World Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson Airport first started operations in 1925. It was built on an abandoned auto racetrack and covered an area of just over 1 square kilometer or the size of 45 Manhattan city blocks. The Airport doubled in size during the 2nd World War and by 1957 it had become the busiest airport in the country. It kept attracting more and more travelers despite Atlanta's much lower population when compared with some of the biggest cities in the U.S. One of the main reasons for that is Atlanta's geographic location. The city is located within a two-hour flight from most of the biggest population centers in the country, making it a major port of entry into the U.S. The proximity to other main population centers also makes Atlanta a hotspot for business and tourism.
Atlanta has been ranked the seventh most visited city for business travel in the US. It is home to the headquarters of 10 Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, the Home. Depot, and Delta Air Lines which is the biggest Airline company in the world. Hartsfield-Jackson is also far away from other major Airports so most of the passengers coming in and flying out of the region travel through here. Other major cities like New York and Chicago have multiple big airports so the traffic is divided between the airports. It wasn't surprising when the Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport became the world's busiest Airport in 1999. It kept this record going for the next two decades and handled over 107 million passengers in 2019. The only other Airport to ever cross the 100 million mark was the Beijing Capital International.
Airport. Los Angeles International Airport took the third spot with an annual passenger traffic of over 88 million in 2019. These rankings saw significant changes during 2020 because of the Covid lockdowns and movement restrictions. Hartsfield Jackson has still remained the busiest Airport in the U.S with 42 million travelers. However, it's been taken over globally by China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport with over 43 million passengers in 2020.
China is now home to 7 of
The top 10 busiest airports in the world because of fewer travel restrictions.
However, officials at the Hartsfield Jackson believe
That the latest rankings are temporary and as restrictions start easing, the airport will retake its top spot.
Despite the insane traffic, the Hartsfield-Jackson isn't as big in size as some of the other airports in the world.
It now stretches over an area of 19 square kilometers which is more than five times the size of New York’s Central Park. However, that is quite some way behind Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport which is the biggest Airport in the world by size and at least 40 times as big as the. Hartsfield Jackson. We conclude Today's article with. The Longest Train Tunnel in the World Railways have to pass through different landscapes including rivers, hills, and even entire cities. These obstructions can make train journeys longer which also makes transportation of goods a lengthy process. The Swiss Alps faced a similar problem during the 90s. Most of the goods were carried by trucks through the curvy mountains and difficult roads.
This raised the risks of traffic congestion and road accidents while increasing transit times. The movement was slowed down even more during the winters due to snow. To overcome this problem, a train tunnel was proposed through the Alps. It was named the Gotthard Tunnel and was approved in 1992 after a referendum by Swiss voters. The voters then also endorsed the idea of moving all goods traveling from roads to rail. The rock excavation for the Gotthard tunnel began in 2000 and the workers found the first breakthrough in 2010. A 410-meter long boring machine was used to create the tunnel which is the equivalent of 4 football pitches A total of 28 million tons of rock was excavated to get the tunnel ready. Most of the rock was then recycled into concrete that was used during the tunnel's construction.
The tunnel was opened in December 2016 when it overtook Japan's 54 km Seikan rail tunnel as the longest in the world. Meanwhile, Europe's previous longest tunnel, the 51 kilometers long Channel Tunnel between. France and the UK was pushed to third place. More than 250 freight trains use the Gotthard tunnel every day. Since most of the goods are now carried by trains, the environmental damage caused by heavy trucks is also minimized. 60 passenger trains also go through the tunnel each day, some of which reach speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour. This has significantly reduced travel times from Switzerland to Italy as the whole tunnel journey takes less than 20 minutes. The Gotthard Tunnel project cost 12 billion dollars to build.
However, the revenue from transported goods and passenger trains will amount to more than 400 million dollars a year. Another 100 million dollars will be saved in the environmental costs of heavy trucks. So, the heavy construction costs can be easily made back. What do you think about these extreme megaprojects? Have you ever been to one of them before?