The 7 Most Majestic Infrastructure Projects of 2016
In the world of gigantic infrastructure projects, there's a fair amount of "hurry up and wait." Cost overruns, construction delays, unforeseen hiccups---it's all de rigueur in this multi-billion dollar space. The worldwide economic slump that began in 2008 did not help out these ambitious undertakings. And yet, a few big-deal projects got their acts together and managed to open this year---including one New Yorkers have been waiting on for nearly a century. Intercontinental bridges, endless tunnels, shiny new railways and more: These are the most majestic infrastructure projects of the year---and the one we're most looking forward to in 2017.
World Trade Center Transportation Hub – New York, New York
What’s $1.8 billion in cost overruns? In March, all of New York City grappled with that question as its new, very large, very prominent transportation hub debuted in lower Manhattan. The Santiago Calatrava-designed hub cost a cool $4 billion, making it the most expensive train station ever. At least something like 50,000 commuters will pass through its white excesses every day and wonder if the price tag's worth it.
Jay Lazarin/Getty ImagesSR 520 Floating Bridge – Seattle, Washington
How does a 7,700-foot concrete bridge float? With the help of 77 air-filled pontoons, of course. Washington State’s new floating bridge---the longest in the world---opened to traffic in April. The state’s department of transportation eventually wants to add light rail to the car- and cyclist-friendly bridge. Float on, Washington. For all our sakes.
Washington State Department of Transportation
Gotthard Base Tunnel – Switzerland
Seventeen years is a long time, but maybe not so long if you’re talking about blasting a 94 miles worth of tunnel through the Alps. The Gotthard Base Tunnel, which opened in June and finally started carrying passenger trains in December, runs 35 miles between the quaint Swiss towns of Erstfeld and Bodio. By 2020, train lovers and stroopwafels alike should be able to travel from northern Italy all the way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, thanks to this tunnel.
Alptransit Gotthard LTDPanama Canal Expansion Project – Panama
Panama’s $5 billion canal expansion opened in June, which happened to be not-so-great timing for the small Central American country. The global shipping industry slumped just as the canal doubled its cargo capacity, with a new set of locks that allows extra-gigantic Post-Panamax ships to sail on through. Still, the expansion is expected to shift up to 10 percent of US to East Asia container traffic away from American West Coast ports and toward its East.
Canal de Panama
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge – Istanbul, Turkey
In August, the world got a new extra wide and extra tall suspension bridge, and another link between Europe and Asia. The 3.1-mile long, 1,056-foot high, 192-foot wide, $3 billion project is the third to span the Bosphorus strait between the two continents that make up Turkish capital. (Another intercontinental link---the 3.4-mile Eurasia tunnel---opened in December.) Eight lanes of traffic are now up and running on the bridge, with a high-speed rail line soon to follow.
ICAAddis Ababa-Djibouti Railway – Ethiopia and Djibouti
Ethiopia opened its very first rail line to tiny, neighboring Djibouti in October. It’s a pretty big deal for the East African country, and for its capital of Addis Ababa. Ethiopia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and this new electric railway---mostly financed and constructed by the Chinese government and Chinese firms---with connect the landlocked country to the ocean. It should cut travel times between Addis Ababa and Djibouti from three days to a mere 12 hours.
Elias Meseret/AP Images
Second Avenue Subway – New York, New York
As 2016 wound down, New Yorkers got some good news: The city would indeed open the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway, a project has been in the works for a century, on New Year's Day. These first three stations cost $4.5 billion, making it the most expensive train project per mile in world history. Completing the entire line, which will theoretically stretch to lower Manhattan? It’s not even funded yet.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New YorkHong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge – Pearl River Delta, China
Welcome to 2017. Maybe. The Hong Kong government has pinned some high hopes on the HZMB (as the hip kids call it). The $16.7 billion, 26-mile span of concrete will connect Hong Kong to Macau (and the under-construction Hong Kong Disneyland!) and the Guangdong province, which politicians are hoping will incentivize serious investment in the sprawling but poor costal area. But the project has rankled environmentalists, who object to its loud and disruptive dredging techniques. There’s doubt, too, that big bridge will open by December 2017. Even 2020, engineers told the Hong Kong Free Press, might be pushing it.
Highways Department Hong Kong
