Top 10 Construction Projects That Were Huge
Wastes of Time and Money 10. Russky Bridge Nikita Khrushchev once referred to Vladivostok
as “Russia’s San Francisco.” So what better way to make Vladivostok even
more like San Francisco than by building it an iconic bridge like the Golden Gate? When Vladivostok was chosen in 2007 as the
site for the 2012 Asia Pacific Economic Conference, Vladimir Putin had his excuse to spend a billion
dollars on what would be the world’s longest cable bridge. It would connect mainland Vladivostok to Russky
Island, where the conference would be held. However, the Golden Gate Bridge, and pretty
much every other bridge in the world, actually connects population centers. Russky Island has 5000 residents. The bridge was designed to handle 50,000 cars
per day. It did make things convenient for the two
day conference, but since then the bridge has predictably had very light traffic and
the hope of turning the island into a major tourist attraction has developed slowly, to
put it generously. 9. Detroit People Mover Detroit once had a population of 1.8 million
and was America’s fourth largest city. It had an impressive skyline and vibrant downtown
scene. Then a city that was built by the automobile
industry was ironically devastated by a system of freeways providing easy access to the suburbs. Today the city’s population is around 700,000,
and it recently had the dubious distinction of being the largest city to ever declare
bankruptcy. This didn’t happen overnight. Recognizing the trend, city leaders in the
mid ’80s decided to build a funky transit system around downtown to connect major businesses
while protecting patrons from Detroit’s notoriously awful weather. Thus the “Detroit People Mover” was conceived. It’s an elevated 2.9 mile one way tram around
downtown that connects all major sites. Just one problem — it’s a loop that doesn’t
connect to anything else. Detroit has no metro rail system like other
large cities, which would allow commuters to ride into town and then board the People
Mover to their specific destination. Riders on Detroit’s public bus system can’t
transfer on board, but rather need to buy a second ticket from an independent system. It is a very reasonable 75 cents per ride,
but cost analysis shows that each rider costs the cash-strapped city three dollars. Even before it opened in 1987, many realized
it would never come close to its projected use of 68,000 riders per day. They were right — 6000 per day is pretty
much the normal expectancy. One person summed it up best as a “horizontal
elevator to nowhere.” 8. Ryugyong Hotel In 1987, construction began in Pyongyang,
North Korea on a 105 story building scheduled to be the world’s tallest hotel. Let that sink in for a moment. The world’s tallest hotel, with around 3000
rooms, in a country that allows very few visitors. It was far and away the most elaborate project
in the history of the totalitarian state, and predictably there were some problems. The construction was plagued with delays and
cost overruns until 1992 when, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end
of their financial support, the project was halted. By this point it was estimated the project
had cost $750 million, or about 2% of North Korea’s GDP. All they had to show for it was an oddly shaped
concrete shell with a cone and rusting crane on top. That’s how it would stay for sixteen years
before an Egyptian telecommunications firm stepped in and offered to complete the project. Again, let that sink in. A country which allows very limited use of
cellphones and Internet partnered with a telecommunications firm. Fortunately, they were able to put a glass
facade on the building and it’s now rather aesthetically pleasing compared to the concrete
shell it used to be. However, there’s no timeline for when it
will be ready for guests, and many speculate that the inside is completely bare. 7. Mirabel International Airport In the late ’60s, Montreal was ready to
make the jump from Canada’s cultural center to global city. It hosted the highly successful Expo 67 World’s
Fair, was awarded Major League Baseball’s first franchise outside the United States,
and was given the honor of hosting the 1976 Summer Olympics. Aviation wise, it also has the distinction
of being the closest major North American city to most of the cities of Europe. In an era when commercial aircraft had a more
limited range it was often necessary for flights originating from anywhere other than the east
coast to stop for fuel before crossing the Atlantic. Government leaders decided that the fairly
large and conveniently located Dorval (now Pierre Elliott Trudeau) International Airport
just wouldn’t do for such an important city. So the decision was made to build a 221 square
mile (at the time the biggest in the world) airport 34 miles northwest of downtown. When Mirabel opened in 1975 the decision was
made to keep Dorval open for domestic flights while using Mirabel for international flights. This meant anyone transferring from a domestic
to international flight had to take an hour long bus ride between airports. But by the time the airport opened planes
could travel much farther, and airlines figured out that passengers would prefer not to have
to take an hour long bus ride as part of their journey to and from Europe. So they simply started flying to other destinations
for their transferring customers instead. In 1997 the decision was made to return international
flights to Dorval. This was the final nail in Mirabel’s coffin,
as the conveniently located Dorval could now provide all the same services. By 2004 commercial flights ceased to use Mirabel
and it became a little used cargo airport. It’s main use today is as a race track and
occasional movie set, where it’s most recognizable as the home of all the zombies in Warm Bodies. Does anyone else see the irony? 6. Athens Olympic Facilities In 1997 Athens was awarded the 2004 Summer
Olympics. This was one year after the Olympic Committee
became very unhappy with Atlanta for relying heavily on corporate sponsorship to fund the
1996 games, and for primarily using temporary venues or modest facilities. So they told the small country of Greece to
build things bigger and grander, and to use primarily public funding for it. The facilities were spectacular for the two
weeks the Olympics were held, but there was virtually no plan for what to do with most
of them once the games were complete. Currently the only facility getting any consistent
use is the main stadium, which is used by the local soccer club and for various other
events. Most of the other facilities are getting no
use whatsoever. For instance, a beach volleyball stadium was
built for the games despite Athens sitting on an actual beach. Likewise, the baseball stadium is getting
no use in a country where the national baseball team had to be made up entirely of Americans
with Greek heritage. Just to make matters worse for the small country,
these were the first Summer Olympics held after September 11. Needless to say, security was a bit of a concern. It’s estimated the games cost Greece upwards
of 5% of their entire GDP. It’s no surprise that the country was plunged
into economic chaos just a few years after the games. Other countries are beginning to see the futility
of hosting the Olympics, and only two cities are bidding for the “honor” of hosting
the 2022 Winter Games. 5. Lambert-St. Louis Airport Expansion By the mid ’90s St. Louis’ airport had
become the eighth busiest in the nation, mostly due to being the primary domestic hub for
TWA, a brand name which means something to old people. However, in terms of physical size it was
one of the smallest airports in the country. Its parallel runways, which are pretty much
a necessity for any hub, were too close together to meet the FAA’s standards for bad weather
landings and takeoffs. Anyone who has ever been to St. Louis knows
that bad weather is a frequent occurrence, and the resulting delays caused chaos to the
TWA system. The simplest solution would’ve been to build
a new airport. St. Louis is located right along the Mississippi
River, and not far across the river is plenty of open space to build a suitable airport. However, the land across the river is also
known as Illinois. Missouri officials weren’t willing to put
their precious airport in another state, even though, say, Cincinnati has done just fine
having their airport in neighboring Kentucky. So expansion was deemed the only option, even
though the airport was completely surrounded by suburbs and therefore a large swath of
residential and commercial space would have to be demolished. The powers that be decided one of the suburbs
was just going to have to be sacrificed to allow for the expansion. Here is the (presumed) transcript from the
meeting: Participant: So, which suburb shall we destroy? All Other Participants: Bridgeton! Maniacal laughing, twirling of mustaches and
lighting of cigars with hundred dollar bills. Bridgeton was a working class suburb of around
20,000 people. The plan to build the FAA compliant parallel
runway went right through the middle of the town and required the demolition of 2000 homes,
four schools and six churches. In 1998 Operation Screw Bridgeton began. Three years later the project was going according
to plan, but then TWA was bought out by American Airlines. Since American already had very large hubs
in Chicago and Dallas they had no need for another one right between them. By 2006, when the project was completed, the
number of flights had decreased by nearly 80% from its peak before the start of the
project. There was no longer a need for a second runway,
which in addition to destroying Bridgeton had cost $1.1 billion. To add insult to injury, the new runway is
much farther from the terminal. While that may not seem like a big deal, large
aircraft require a great deal of fuel. Taxiing just a little farther is a lot more
expensive. So the new runway is only used on rare occasions
when parallel landings and takeoffs are needed, which represent about 5% of flights at the
airport. 4. Montreal Olympic Stadium Although Montreal’s 1976 Summer Olympics
were fairly successful, like Athens they were a financial disaster for the city. This was largely due to the enormous security
cost they didn’t anticipate but became necessary after the 1972 Munich Massacre. Unlike Athens, Montreal had specific plans
for all of its venues after the games. The centerpiece of the games was Olympic Stadium. It was given the nickname “the big O,”
both for hosting the Olympics and for its donut shape. After the games it would become the home of
the Expos, and would host many other events as well. Like other stadiums of the time, it was designed
as a multi-use facility. Unlike other stadiums at the time, it was
designed to have a retractable roof. Most impressively, it would have the world’s
highest inclined tower acting as a crane to support the roof. While the stadium was completed in time for
the Olympics, the tower and roof were not. In fact, they weren’t completed until 11
years after the Olympics. Once finally completed the retractable roof
was like a giant curtain, prone to tearing in any wind over 25 mph. After several years of frustration it was
decided to just make the roof a permanent fixture. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very good roof. Since it was designed to be pulled off the
stadium like a blanket, it had lots of folds and tears and leaked badly with the slightest
precipitation. It wasn’t very strong either, so it was
deemed unsafe if supporting too much snow. After several years of dealing with this the
decision was made to replace the roof, and the new one… ended up with many of the same problems. Fed up with all these issues, the Expos began
demanding a new facility and other groups decided it was just too risky to schedule
events there. Since the city was already strapped paying
off the debts from the Olympics and the aforementioned Mirabel Airport, a new stadium just wasn’t
in the cards. So in 2005 the Expos left for Washington D.C.,
and their old stadium currently has no primary tenant. In 2006 it was paid off for a final cost of
$1.6 billion, making it the most expensive stadium ever built at the time. Locals have since changed its nickname to
“The Big Owe.” 3. Palace of Parliament In 1984 Nicolae Ceaucescu, the ruthless dictator
of Romania, decided that poverty stricken Romanians didn’t really need healthcare,
education, or food. No, what they needed was a gigantic palace,
the largest in all of Europe, to house government offices, and of course Ceaucescu himself. In 1989 Ceaucescu was deposed and executed,
but his massive building remained. The new government decided it would be suitable
for all of their needs as well, because hey, no sense in turning down a free parliament
building. Except Romania isn’t very big. Even though the building houses almost every
key government office less than a third of it is occupied. That’s a lot of wasted space, and presumably
a lot of unamused Romanian taxpayers. 2. Millennium Dome (O2 Arena) You may remember that in the late ’90s everyone
was excited about the upcoming new millennium, unless they were certain that Y2K would end
the world. But once New Year’s Day had passed (and
Y2K didn’t happen) it ceased to be interesting. British officials, however, were so confident
that millennium fever would last the entire year they built an impressive $1.3 billion
dome along the Thames which would house an exhibition expected to draw at least 12 million
visitors. It only got six million, mostly because those
who did go found it to be very disappointing, little more than a gigantic advertisement
for various big name sponsors. So not only did the exhibit underwhelm, there
was no plan in place for what to do with the dome once the calendar turned to 2001. It sat empty for a few years before mobile
phone provider O2 took it over, and it now serves mainly as a concert venue. But despite being a dome in a city that loves
sports and has notoriously awful weather, it doesn’t have a permanent tenant. 1. New South China Mall China has undergone an enormous transformation
from a tightly controlled communist economy to a free market system. Chinese people have embraced consumerism and
an opportunity to get goods from around the world. So in 2005 the largest shopping mall in the
world opened in the city of Dongguan. It has space for over 2000 stores, a food
court and amusement facilities. Since China’s economy was going global sections
of the mall had different world themes, including a replica Venetian canal and Arc de Triomphe. And it’s never had more than a dozen stores
open at a time. It was expecting around 100,000 visitors daily. It rarely sees more than 200. The store that gets the most visitors? McDonald’s. Why has such an impressive facility in a consumer
mad country had such a difficult time attracting customers? Remember that it’s in Dongguan. Have you heard of Dongguan? Exactly. Even though it’s a city of 10 million it’s
located right between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, cities you have heard of it. Dongguan is essentially an endless series
of drab apartment towers and factories. All those shoes and rubber ducks you buy are
made somewhere, and that’s in places like Dongguan by low paid workers. People who don’t have money to spend at
fancy shopping malls. It was also built on the outskirts of town
with limited public transportation access. In a city of low paid workers the only way
to get there is by car, and most residents don’t own one. Despite being almost completely empty, the
mall is kept impeccably neat and clean. It has a full time staff and is ready should
consumers ever come by. But that seems unlikely, because developers
adjusting to the new consumer economy forgot rule number one: location, location, location.
