Mega Structure 6 - Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, also called “Pearl Bridge”, is located in Japan and considered as Japan’s finest engineering feat. Akashi Kaikyō Bridge is the world’s longest suspension bridge in the world with a length of 3911 meters (12,831 ft). The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge serves as a link between the city of Kobe and Iwaya by crossing the Akashi strait. The construction was finished in a span of 12 years which actually begin in the year 1986 and completed in the year 1998. The bridge plays an important role in providing three routes across the inland sea.

Mega Structure 5 - World One

World One is a supertall residential skyscraper under construction in Mumbai, India. It is located in Lower Parel, South Mumbai on the 7.1-hectare (17.5-acre) site of the defunct Shrinivas Mill. The site also houses two other towers—World View and World Crest. World One is being built at an estimated cost of over US$320 million. Construction began in 2011, and is expected to be completed in 2018. Once complete, World One will be the tallest building in India, and the tallest residential tower in the world.

Lodha’s World One will bring India’s name in the list of some of the world re-known engineering projects as it will be the tallest residential tower in the world.

Project Details and Costing
Location- Upper Worli, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Site Area – 17.5 acre

Land Acquired from Srinivas Cotton Mills By Lodha Group for Rs 250 crore (US$40 million)

Project Cost – Rs 20 billion (US$320 million)

Expected Revenue from Sales – Rs 50 billion (US$800 million)

Architect 
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners are the architects for World One. This company has more than 200 awards for design excellence which include 24 AIA National Honor Awards.

Structural Engineer
Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA) are the ones doing structure designs for this project. They have vast experience in designing tall buildings as their earlier projects included the Shanghai World Financial Center, Bitexco Financial Tower, World Trade Center in New York.

Mega Structure 4 - Chenani – Nashri Tunnel

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated Asia's longest bi-directional road tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway to the nation. The Chenani-Nashri tunnel will cut down travel time between Jammu and Srinagar by two hours.

Modi was accompanied by Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and Minister of State for PMO and MP from Kathua-Udhampur constituency, Jitendra Singh.

The Rs 2,519-crore all-weather tunnel is equipped with world-class safety features and has been built in a record four years on the hilly terrain of Jammu and Kashmir, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had said earlier.

"This state-of-the-art 10.89-km tunnel between Udhampur and Ramban in Jammu and Kashmir, an engineering marvel on the most difficult terrain of the Himalayas, was built in a record four years," the minister had said.

Mega Structure - LARGEST HYDROELECTRIC DAM

Hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling
District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) but is second to Itaipu Dam with regard to the generation of electricity annually.

Facts You Didn’t Know about 5 Famous Projects

You work hard. The people on the projects mentioned below worked hard. Take a break and ready some fun facts about these 5 famous construction projects.

1. Hoover Dam

1. Architect Gordon Kauffman wanted to emphasize how large and imposing the dam is, which is why the wall is smooth and completely visible.
2. Its 6.6 million tons of concrete are enough to pave a road from San Francisco to New York City.
3. Las Vegas would not exist without the Hoover Dam to supply energy and water.

2. One World Trade Center

1. Reaches 1776 ft high – a number chosen to symbolize the year the U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed.
2. It generates its own power internally, and is one of the greenest buildings in the world.
3. Built to pay homage to the past but also be a beacon of hope for the future.

Mega Structure 3 - ITAIPU Dam

Vital Statistics:
Location: Brazil and Paraguay
Completion Date: 1991
Cost: $18 billion
Reservoir Capacity: 1.02 trillion cubic feet
Type: Gravity
Purpose: Hydroelectric power
Reservoir: Itaipu Reservoir
Materials: Concrete
Engineer(s): International Engineering Company; Itaipu Binacional

Eighteen was a lucky number for engineers working on the Itaipu Dam. The 4.8-mile-long complex of concrete and rockfill dams on the Upper Parana River at the Brazil-Paraguay border has 18 generators, and it took 18 years and $18 billion to build. The main structure, a hollow, concrete gravity dam, has a powerhouse capable of generating 12,600 megawatts of electricity. That's enough to power most of the state of California. In fact, the enormous dam provides 25 percent of Brazil's energy supply and 78 percent of neighboring Paraguay's energy supply. But building one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world was not easy.

Mega Structure 2 - Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

For over 50 years, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel has captured worldwide attention as a modern engineering wonder and an important East Coast travel convenience. Crossing over and under open waters where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, the Bridge-Tunnel provides a direct link between Southeastern Virginia and the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware plus the Eastern Shore counties in Maryland and Virginia), and cuts 95 miles from the journey between Virginia Beach and points north of Wilmington, Delaware. Following its opening on April 15, 1964, the Bridge-Tunnel was selected "One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World" in a worldwide competition that included more than one hundred major projects. In addition, in 1965, it was distinguished as "The Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement" by the American Society of Civil Engineers. To date, over 116 million commercial and passenger vehicles have crossed the Bridge-Tunnel. In order to meet future traffic demands and provide for a safer crossing, construction of a parallel crossing project began in summer 1995, and opened to four-lane traffic on April 19, 1999. No less challenging than construction of the original span, this project once again drew focus to a remarkable achievement in engineering and construction.

From the early 1930's to 1954, a private corporation managed scheduled ferry service between Virginia's Eastern Shore and the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. With the number of ships (including the number of passengers and vehicles they transported) increasing steadily, the Virginia General Assembly stepped in to create the Chesapeake Bay Ferry District and the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Commission as the governing body of the District; subsequently the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District and Commission. 

MEGA STRUCTURE 1- Hoover Dam

Hoover dam is America's most famous landmark, completed in 1935. It was the most colossal structure in the world at that time. This great American icon was to be the largest and heaviest dam, producing the largest amount of Hydroelectric power in the world. 21000 men took part in its construction and of them 112 laid their lives to complete this megastructure. Though its not the superior dam today but still most famous, iconic and greatest dam ever built. Situated in Mojave desert, 30 Km south-east of Las Vegas. Built on Colorado River at Black Canyon, the construction site was extremely difficult. The risks involved were huge and the consequences could have been catastrophic, if the dam failed. Hoover Dam is 221 m high, 201 meters thick and 3.4 million cubic meters of concrete has been used in it.

Why Hoover Dam was Constructed? Colorado, worlds one of the most powerful and unpredictable rivers, would break its banks in every spring and flood the area. The Government instructed the Bureau of Reclamation to come up with a solution and they decided to build world's largest dam. The site chosen for the megastructure Hoover Dam was Black Canyon. It is an 800 ft high deep gorge through which the river flowed. The spot, Black canyon is in the middle of the desert, so there was no infrastructure, no labors, no transportation and the weather too was harsh. Frank Crow, was the Chief Engineer of Hoover Dam and was assigned the job to get it completed in the span from 1931 - 1935. The construction of Hoover took 7 years at a cost of $ 125 million. Nowadays this amount is about 788 million pounds. If the dam was not completed in the given time it would have cost the contractors $ 3000 / day in financial penalties.