MOST Amazing Megaprojects in the World

mega projects are built to serve mankind from massive dams producing electricity to deep tunnels boring through the earth's crust join me as we take a look at 15 of the most amazing mega projects in the world number 15 the great man-made river project in a perfect world each and every mega-project is going to help humanity and that's exactly what the great man-made river project is set out to do more commonly known as the gmr project this pricey endeavor has been in the works in libya since 1985 with the goal of essentially terraforming much of the land to help future generations of libyans live a greener life the gmr is the largest irrigation project in the world and when all is said and done it will irrigate more than 350 000 acres of arable land substantially increasing the availability of clean drinking water to most of the urban centers in the country it is pretty amazing to think that so many people in today's world don't have access to good clean drinking water and so the gmr is a much needed endeavor all of the gmr's water is coming from the underground nubian sandstone aquifer system and will reach millions of people and so despite having begun in 1985 the only catch here is that the project isn't scheduled for completion until 2030. number 14 goddard base tunnel back in 1947 the swiss engineer carl edward gruner dreamt of creating a massive tunnel unrivaled in length and depth in his home country's goddard mountain range finally in 2016 his dream has become a reality with the construction of the goddard base tunnel the tunnel sits 2400 meters below ground goes on for over 55 kilometers and costs 12 billion dollars to make the opening of the tunnel was so monumental that the leaders of germany france and italy were some of the guests in attendance and tens of thousands of people gathered for an opening festival the tunnel was even given its very own theme song the goddard base tunnel is now home to a high-speed rail that makes the trip between zurich and milan in about two and a half hours the tunnel is a marvel of swiss ingenuity brings a great sense of pride to the country so much so that the swiss citizens agreed to pay an extra thirteen hundred dollars per person in taxes to help complete the project which saw two massive boring machines meet in the middle marking the tunnel's completion for almost 20 years number 13 california high-speed railway if you live in california then you know all about the natural beauty it has to offer but then you'll also know about how long it can take to drive from one major city to the next and just how crazy some of the traffic can be despite being home to some of the most densely populated cities in the world they haven't quite figured out mass public transportation so that's where the high speed railway comes in work on the golden state's high-speed train began more recently in 2015 and is on track to be completed by 2029 with the goal of connecting eight out of the ten largest cities in the state if you're looking for a fun day trip in the future then you can start south in los angeles and move your way up north to san francisco in just three hours moving at a top speed of 200 miles per hour and that's just phase one by the time the phase two is finished extensions will allow for connections to san diego and sacramento as well and keeping up with the typically forward-thinking california mindset the high-speed railway trains will be 100 electric and powered by renewable energy sources this is definitely one to look forward to number 12 hanford nuclear waste site like it or not but nuclear energy is a part of life which means we have to deal with all of the waste it produces and you can't just throw this stuff into the trash and let it sit in a landfill serious nuclear waste takes what feels like forever to properly be disposed of which is why the united states has built the hanford site in washington state originally a testing site during the cold war the hanford nuclear waste site was the main plutonium production facility for their secret weapon arsenal that thankfully never needed to be used both the soviets and the us were in a race to see who could make the biggest and baddest weaponry so for the next 40 some odd years they stockpiled as many weapons as they could and this as we're seeing today has had some serious side effects that no one really thought of until it was too late so at the hanford site in washington the us accrued enough plutonium for about 60 000 nuclear weapons including the batch of plutonium that was used to make fat man the atomic bomb dropped on nagasaki in 1945. the site has since been decommissioned but it's still holding on to about 60 percent of the high-level radioactive waste by volume managed by the u.s department of energy much of the site's waste is buried deep underground but much of the area's groundwater is still very very contaminated and it costs about 3 billion a year to operate and frequent waste leaks can cost over 100 billion dollars to properly clean number 11 three gorgeous dam another civil engineering wonder of the world the three gorgeous dam in china is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world with a generation capacity of a whopping 22 and a half megawatts totally eclipsing the other entries on our list another dam sitting on the yangtze river the three gorgeous dam took 40 000 workers to construct over just 12 years the projection is its entirety cost between 28 and 88 billion dollars while that's a pretty big gap the chinese government likes to be a bit hush-hush on the subject it's also the largest concrete structure on earth the idea behind it was born back in the year 1919 but it took about 80 years for the commission to pass by the national people's congress as a monument to chinese engineering it's a massive source of renewable energy and replaced the burning of 30 million tons of coal each year and it used enough steel to build 63 eiffel towers it gives energy to over 60 million chinese people every year but something that massive has to garner some controversy the construction of the three gorges displaced 1.3 million people and destroyed historical excavation areas and 100 workers died while building it but the biggest impact of the dam is still on the environment as nearby fish populations are in decline and pollution is increasing as the river is no longer able to clean itself as it's choked off by the dam so it's no surprise that something so big must also come at such a large price number 10 lucelle city qatar is a pretty small country just 100 miles from north to south and 50 miles from east to west just to put that into perspective it's about the same size as connecticut in the united states but despite its small stature it still manages to be one of the wealthiest nations in the world because of its high gas exportation so when you've got all that money to spend why not undergo a few mega projects and while this one is still in the making we're really hoping that the lusail city mega project will deliver because if everything goes according to plan then it will be the first green city in the country potentially changing qatar forever lucille city is set to accommodate 450 000 people with almost half of them being full-time residents and 170 000 workers here across the 19 districts spread across a 15 square mile area including four man-made islands and a blue lagoon complete with two arenas there will even be a massive luxury stadium costing 45 billion dollars alone lucille's city will also be equipped with the latest and greatest technologies making this a smart city too in order to ensure both safety and maximum operational efficiency number nine jubal industrial city saudi arabia is another oil rich company that's always looking to not just expand but prove itself on the world stage so the jubilee industrial city is another mega project with the hope of thrusting the country into the future this is a ground-up project that began in the 1970s and has so far cost about 11 billion dollars the entire mega project has been broken up into four different phases which involve updating the city's industrial plants their petrochemical industry support industries and smelting plants across eight square miles but in order to do this the city needs to remove hills build new underground tunnels expand its fiber optics build new highways and create an underwater seaway for daily cooling considering that jubail went from being a small fishing village to now the largest civil engineering project in the world there's no denying that the update is one of the most amazing mega project the world has ever seen number eight o'hare international airport redevelopment you may like to fly but i'll bet that you hate the overall airport experience and as both world populations and demand for air travel rise these international hubs are only growing more and more congested by the day but that's why they're hard at work to update and improve chicago's o'hare international airport the united states is set to host both the 2026 fifa world cup and the 2028 olympic games so they're expecting plenty of flights which is why eight and a half billion dollars are being pumped into the chicago airport the first in a series of international hub overhauls but for chicago o'hare this intense redevelopment marks the first time in its history that the terminal core will be expanded so terminal 5 is set for growth while terminal 2 will get a full rebuild transforming it into a global transfer hub with two satellite concourses so expect to see an additional 3 million square feet of space and another 50 additional gates popping up the work on terminal 5 has an estimated completion date in 2022 with the subsequent areas opening up in phases throughout 2028 bon voyage number seven eater the international thermonuclear experimental reactor or eater is a joint venture mega project between 35 nations currently under construction in france this work in progress began in 2013 with the goal of advancing energy production and solving the global energy crisis by replicating the fusion reactions within stars it sounds like something from a science fiction movie set far in the future but you better believe that eater is very real scientists are creating a magnetic chamber to contain the plasma created when particles are heated to over 150 million degrees celsius and collide to create fusion energy and they really need to take their time with this mega project because one false move and you're looking at a serious nuclear accident once it's finished the three buildings that make up eater will have a cost of about 20 billion dollars to create and as of 2020 the project was about 60 complete with the construction of the reactor complex and the 10 different types of concrete shields completed and now they can get to work on the magnetic chamber the entire complex is due to begin operations in around 2025. number six grand renaissance dam sitting alongside nigeria's echo atlantic is one of the most impressive mega projects on the african continent not just today but probably ever work on the grand renaissance dam began back in 2011 and it's on his way to becoming the largest hydroelectric plant on the continent generating around six and a half gigawatts of power by the time it's hopefully finished in 2022 and you can bet that something generating this much power is going to be big the dam stands over 500 feet tall and extends about 6 000 feet across the blue nile with the main structure being formed with over 10 million cubic feet of concrete to hold back the water when the reservoir is full and how much is this entire project gonna cost when all is said and done five billion dollars number five chuo shinkansen if you live in or have ever been to japan then you may know a thing or two about the next mega project on our list ever since they built their first bullet train in 1964 japan has been at the forefront of high-speed rail technology until some european and chinese competitors came along japan once held on to the title of having the world's fastest trains but that doesn't mean that they won't try for that top spot again the chuoshin kansan uses maglev carriages to reach a top speed of over 310 miles per hour which is fast enough to bring japan back into the number one spot when work is complete the chuo shinkansen will connect two major cities tokyo and nagoya which are 175 miles apart with a 40-minute train ride 90 of the train routes will be run underground beneath the mountains to reduce travel distance and even save almost 5 billion over alternative options we've got some time though before we can catch a ride the project is set to finish in 2027. number four one bangaroo one bangaroo or crown sydney is the tallest building in sydney and the fourth largest in australia this skyscraper has been through a lot beginning construction in 2016 and finally topping out in 2020 one bangaroo is one of the wildest mega projects the world has ever seen this 75 story 890 foot building is home to australia's first six star hotel and another 82 luxury apartments with no two rooms the same all overlooking the harbor that only the wealthiest of folk can ever hope to afford but when you move down from these high-rise views there's a casino too where you can rub shoulders with the rich and famous you can bet that there's also a luxury spa gym open air tennis courts two rooftop infinity pools and a michelin star restaurant it is tough to miss one bangaroo when you're looking at the city skyline and they've certainly got their money's worth because the entire project cost 2.2 billion dollars number three the bay bridge span when you think of san francisco your mind probably goes straight to the golden gate bridge but there's another bridge on the city limits that's still impressive in its own right the bay bridge now keep in mind the bay bridge has fallen victim to multiple earth-shattering earthquakes and so any and all structures need to be able to withstand the next big one the bay bridge is much newer and cost around 6.4 billion dollars to build and replace the original seismically unstable bridge so to do that the engineers built the world's longest self-anchored suspension span at 2047 feet long and the whole thing is anchored by just one 525 foot tall tower that carried 90 percent of the bridge's weight the tall tower is hanging on tightly to the bay bridge's main cable made up of 17 000 wire strands all wrapped around to create a thick earthquake safe structure that's 2.6 feet in diameter the cable loops all around the bridge's roadway and the bridge is also one of the widest bridges in the world which is why it needed extra care and attention especially since it's lodged into the bay area's less than ideal soil conditions [Music] two evergreen point floating bridge if you're ever in washington state going for a nice little joy ride down state route 520 then make sure you roll over the evergreen point floating bridge after construction finally wrapped up in 2016 this modern marvel took the top spot for the longest floating bridge in the world the bridge spans a whopping 7 700 feet across lake washington and is wide enough to accommodate six lanes of vehicles that's one crowded commute but how is something that long and that wide able to withstand that much weight on a daily basis the evergreen point floating bridge uses 77 concrete pontoons as its foundation so the weight of the water that's being displaced by the pontoons is equal to the weight of the structure which is what allows it to float the idea of a floating bridge may be scary to most people but don't worry because this spectacle of engineering is plenty safe it almost makes you wish you'd pay more attention in high school math class the roadway is elevated 20 feet above the water and seeing as how the bridge floats on the water it uses 58 separate anchors to keep everything in place number one international space station if we're going to talk about the most incredible engineering feat of all time then we have to go to space because if you thought construction here on earth took a lot of work then imagine doing it in the final frontier the international space station or iss weighs 460 tons is the size of a football field and floats above us 240 miles above earth it took five teams from 15 countries to construct this master class in engineering that all started in 1984. the iss is so big that construction couldn't even be completed on earth seeing as how there are no rockets in existence that could possibly propel it to its great heights everything was launched piece by piece and then slowly assembled in the dark void astronauts and cosmonauts have been going back and forth and even living up there for the past 20 years or so to develop and prepare the station for research and exploration and you can rest assured that more additions to the iss will be made as time goes on watch our future playlist for more top 15 videos about the future sit back relax and binge watch all of our best future related videos

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 564,638

Keywords: Megaprojects

Id: 65kQTnOVz0M

Length: 17min 6sec (1026 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 26 2022