Back to BlogGreat Engineering Projects in the World

10. Great Pyramid of Giza – Egypt – 2504 B.C.

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At 756 ft long and 450 ft high, the Great Pyramid was the Tallest Man-made Structure for more than 3,800 years! It consists of 2.3 million stone blocks with each having an average weight of 2.5 tons.

With all that weight an enormous amount of workers would have been needed, and it is estimated that 30,000 workers were required to build the pyramid. These workers were sometimes burdened with the largest stone blocks which weighed between 25 – 80 tons and were transported almost 500 miles away.

 

9. Great Wall of China – 475 B.C. (15th Century C.E.)

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Over 2,000 years the Great Wall was constructed through a series of several walls that were merged and expanded, they were all joined and the wall was completed within the 15th and 17th century. The main component used to bind the stones of the wall was made from rice flour! That’s 5,500 miles in length of stone and rice making one of China’s most renown creations. Some of the Wall’s watchtowers stand 3,215 ft above sea level and the wall reaches 25.6 ft in height. No wonder it’s called the Great Wall!

8. Palm Islands -Dubai, 2006

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This visually amazing construction was erected in 2006, requiring one hundred studies just to determine the feasibility of the project. It is one of the few objects that are in view from space to the naked eye, most likely because there were over 32 million cubic meters of Dubai’s seabed sands used to finish it! Making it one of Dubai’s most iconic landmarks.

7. BerthaThe Tunnel-Boring Machine from Seattle – 2013

‘Bertha‘ – The Tunnel-Boring Machine from Seattle, 2013

Bertha, a massive scale tunnelling machine is the equivalent height of a 5 story building.

It is 54.7 ft in diameter, 7,000-ton in weight and 326 ft in length. The shear size of Bertha gives it the power to drill through the planned 1.7 mile route appointed by the Government. The machine was made by a Hitachi Zosen of Osaka, Japan, and the machine’s assembly was completed in Seattle in June 2013.

 

6. Russky Bridge – Russia – 2012

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The $1 billion Russky Bridge in Southwestern Russia became the world’s largest cable-stayed bridge when it opened in 2012. With a total length of over 10,000 ft, 168 cables are needed to support the load of the bridge, and pylons standing more than 1,000 ft high are used to anchor these. The longest cables stretch to nearly 2,000 ft.

5. Burj Khalifa – Dubai – 2010

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The Burj Khalifa is the Tallest Building and the Tallest Free-standing Structure in the world. A total of over 22 million man hours were completed in the construction of this masterpiece resulting in a height of 2,717ft (828m) giving the building more than 160 stories. The Burj Khalifa holds 7 world records and is predicted to hold them for a very long time, which is understandable as  I don’t know of anyone determined to rise above the Khalifa’s ‘Tallest Service Elevator in the World’ record!

4. Channel Tunnel – England/France – 1994

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Named one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World by ASCE, the Channel Tunnel was put together by a total of 13,000 Engineers, Technicians and Construction workers. The length of the tunnel reaches 31 miles and the depth of the passageway is 250ft underwater, making it the longest undersea tunnel in the world. The project cost £4.65 billion (equivalent to £12 billion today) and took 6 years to complete. Used in the completion of the project were 11 tunnel boring machines.

3. Panama Canal – 1914

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Another one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World, and additionally named a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the ASCE. The 47 mile long Panama Canal waterway connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, allowing more than 15,000 ships to cross it every year. More than 60 million pounds of dynamite were used to create it and 40,000 workers moved enough dirt to bury all Manhattan 12ft deep.

2. Golden Gate Bridge –  San Francisco – 1937

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The $27 million Golden Gate Bridge has 27,572 strands that make up the it’s two main cables and together the wire is roughly 80,000 miles long. 600,000 rivets were required to build the bridge within its 4 years of construction, this is why it is also one of the great Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.

1. International Space Station – 2000

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The International Space Station is the largest space project so far undertaken and is the biggest structure ever to orbit the earth. The research facility is 400km above the Earth’s surface and is jointly operated by the space agencies of 16 countries. Truly one of mankind’s greatest accomplishments.