Most Expensive Construction Projects Ever Built

from the most expensive highway project in the united states to japan's island airport to china's most successful railroad here are five of the most expensive construction projects ever built which construction project had the biggest impact in your country let us know in the comments below if you enjoy our content make sure to leave a like and subscribe to top luxury [Music] number five the new suez canal the original suez canal was completed in 1869 and provides the shortest maritime route between europe and the indian and western pacific oceans it remains one of the world's most heavily used shipping lanes extending over 193 kilometers the importance of the suez canal is evident from the fact that its six-day blockade earlier this year caused the world a trade loss of over 50 billion dollars last year around 12 of world trade passed through this canal despite its massive significance most of the canal only allowed for a single shipping lane letting in 49 cargo vessels every day on average so in 2014 egypt started work on creating a 35 kilometer long second shipping lane parallel to the suez canal the new suez canal also deepened and widened a huge part of the old waterway the upgrade was completed just a year later for 9.2 billion dollars and facilitated traffic in two directions it also helped minimize the waiting time for transiting ships due to these additions the number of cargo vessels passing through the suez canal will increase to 97 by 2023 the canal is also projected to generate over 12 billion dollars in revenue in 2023 up from close to 5 billion dollars it generated in 2014 it is one of the most expensive construction projects in history however the new suez canal is tipped to make up for the billion spent on its construction number four the channel tunnel when we talk of expensive transit projects on the seas it is difficult to look past the channel tunnel which connects england to france through the english channel the tunnel takes high-speed railways through a distance of over 50 kilometers under sea and holds the record for the longest undersea tunnel in the world the idea for an undersea tunnel connecting france and britain has been around since the early 1800s but the limitations of technology and the political unrest meant that it took almost a couple of centuries to finally build it in 1987 drilling began on the british side and around one year later france started construction on their side too the most difficult task was to ensure that the two sides would actually meet to do this they used special lasers and surveying equipment nevertheless it was a great relief when they actually met on december 1st 1990 for the first time in history britain and france were connected the whole project was completed six years after starting at a cost of 12 billion dollars as a tribute to its achievements in civil engineering it was named as one of the seven wonders of the modern world still there's no denying that the channel tunnel is expensive however another tunnel across the continent ended up costing even more number 3 boston's big dig this project was approved in 1987 to replace the outdated central artery road which could only accommodate 75 000 vehicles per day however more than twice as many cars were using it per day causing delays of up to 10 hours to solve the problem the plan was to build an eight-lane underground highway that would run up to six kilometers under the heart of boston construction of the big dig started in 1991 and should have originally been finished seven years later however as with many mega projects there were some problems and delays the location's proximity to boston harbor gave rise to environmental concerns and the authorities couldn't get the necessary environmental permits until 1994. in addition construction was complicated by two subway tracks that were in the way and the substance of the soil the area through which the tunnels were to be dug was largely landfill furthermore foundations of buried houses and even a number of sunken ships had to be removed during the process they also made some archaeological discoveries dating back to the pre-revolutionary era as a result of this the originally planned costs of 2.8 billion dollars skyrocketed and the project was completed with a delay of nine years in 2007. the boston globe estimated that the project will ultimately cost 22 billion dollars including interest and that it won't be fully paid off until 2038 but the project improved the traffic situation in that area it can handle over 250 000 vehicles every day ensuring a smoother flow of traffic and easier cross-city access however the city still has major problems with traffic and it is argued that the project has only shifted them to other places on the other hand the completion of the big dig has managed to reduce the carbon monoxide levels in the area and contributes to a better quality of life for its residents the previous elevated highway was demolished and freed up almost 300 acres of land for green projects parks and open spaces what do you think about this project let us know in the comments below number 2 kansai international airport moving away from tunnels we take a trip to japan's kansai region and take a closer look at the world's first airport to be built on an artificial island the kansai international airport is one of asia's busiest airports and can remain operational 24 hours a day because of its isolated location when this offshore airport was approved the location for its construction did not exist so the first step was to construct an artificial island that can hold a world-class airport construction work on this man-made island and the future airport destination started in 1987. a 30 meter layer of earth was laid on top of the water by crushing three mountains and pouring them into a seabed consisting of thousands of heavy sandpipes the result was a 4.5 kilometer long and 2.5 kilometer wide artificial island which was completed in 1990. the airport was finished four years after that and was officially opened in 1994 after some modifications repairs and the addition of a second runway the total costs had risen to 24 billion dollars however the novel location and engineering innovation made the kansai international airport an instant hit more than 28 million passengers used kansai international airport in 2019 and it ranked third in japan behind tokyo airport and narita international airport however it's still quite some way behind beijing's capital international airport that crossed the 100 million passenger mark during that same year keeping that in mind expansions are underway which will enable the airport to accommodate 40 million international passengers a year by 2025 but when it comes to the most expensive transit project our number one the beijing shanghai high speed railway takes the cake the rail line cut travel time by more than half and was completed in just three years the 1 320 kilometer long railway was built at a cost of 40 billion dollars and was opened to the public in 2011. during the first decade of operations the railway line has already served over 1.3 billion people every day 41 bullet trains traveling at speeds close to kilometers depart from beijing drive south down to jinan pass through nanjing and complete a trip to shanghai in about five hours the same trip took about 12 to 14 hours before this high-speed railway was opened in 2019 alone the rail line transported over 210 million passengers with daily ridership peaking at 798 000 passengers so even though the project used up more than 40 billion dollars of the taxpayers money it ended up being a smashing success many of china's high-speed trains run on subsidies and losses however the beijing shanghai high-speed railway managed to generate close to a billion dollars in 2015 the company's net profits increased up to 40 percent every year up to 2019. the railway line's resounding success even made its way to the shanghai stock exchange in january 2020. it debuted on the exchange after one of the biggest ipos in chinese history where the company raised about four and a half billion dollars selling over six billion shares on the first day the most expensive transit mega project in history remained profitable even during the pandemic to this day it is considered to be the most profitable railroad line in the world have you traveled through or with one of these expensive yet fascinating mega developments let us know in the comments below if you enjoyed leave a like and subscribe to top luxury for more

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Keywords: top luxury, megaprojects, construction, biggest construction projects, most expensive construction projects in the world, new suez canal, suez canal, suez canal expansion, channel tunnel, channel tunnel construction, big dig boston, big dig, big dig project, kansai international airport, floating airport, kansai airport, building, beijing shanghai high-speed railway, bullet train china, fastest train in the world, massive builds, most expensive construction project in history

Id: vzGz4uVcBks

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 25 2021