Panama Canal. Location of Panama between Pacific (bottom) and Caribbean (top), with canal at top center The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is a 77.1-kilometre (48 mi) ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade.
There are locks at each end to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 metres (85 ft) above sea level. The current locks are 33.5 metres (110 ft) wide. A third, wider lane of locks is currently under construction and is due to open in 2015. France began work on the canal in 1881, but had to stop because of engineering problems and high mortality due to disease. During the construction era, ownership of the territory that is now the Panama Canal was first Colombian, then French, and then American. History[edit] Early proposals[edit] Ferdinand de Lesseps. Zuiderzee Works. The Zuiderzee Works (Dutch: Zuiderzeewerken) are a manmade system of dams, land reclamation and water drainage works, the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The project involved the damming of the Zuiderzee, a large, shallow inlet of the North Sea, and the reclamation of land in the newly enclosed water using polders.
Its main purposes are to improve flood protection and create additional land for agriculture. Together with the Delta Works, the American Society of Civil Engineers declared the works among the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Birth of the project[edit] The concept of making the Zuiderzee docile originated in the seventeenth century, but the ambitious solutions suggested were impractical given the technology then available. Statue of Cornelis Lely on the Afsluitdijk However, when Lely became Minister of Transport and Public Works in 1913, the government started working on official plans to enclose the Zuiderzee.
Delta Works. Overview of the Delta Works Along with the Zuiderzee Works, Delta Works have been declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. History[edit] The estuaries of the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt have been subject to flooding over the centuries. After building the Afsluitdijk, the Dutch started studying the damming of the Rhine-Meuse Delta. Plans were developed to shorten the coastline and turn the delta into a group of freshwater lakes. Due to indecision and the Second World War, little action was taken. The plan consisted of blocking the estuary mouths of the Oosterschelde, the Haringvliet and the Grevelingen. Delta law and conceptual framework[edit] An important part of this project was fundamental research to help solve the flooding problem. The framework is called the 'Delta norm'; it includes the following principles: Major areas to be protected from flooding are identified.
These acceptable risks were enshrined in the Delta Law. Itaipu Dam. The Itaipu Dam (Guarani: Itaipu, Portuguese: Itaipu, Spanish: Itaipú; Portuguese pronunciation: [itɐjˈpu], locally: [ita.iˈpu], Spanish pronunciation: [itaiˈpu]) is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. In the Guaraní language, Itaipu means "the sounding stone". Of the twenty generator units currently installed, ten generate at 50 Hz for Paraguay and ten generate at 60 Hz for Brazil. Since the output capacity of the Paraguayan generators far exceeds the load in Paraguay, most of their production is exported directly to the Brazilian side, from where two 600 kV HVDC lines, each approximately 800 km long, carry the majority of the energy to the São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro region where the terminal equipment converts the power to 60 Hz.
History[edit] Negotiations between Brazil and Paraguay[edit] Construction starts[edit] Paraná River rerouted[edit] See also[edit] Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait, the mile-wide, three-mile-long channel between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to Marin County, bridging both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait.
The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.[7] The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world".[8] It opened in 1937 and had until 1964 the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,280 m). History[edit] Ferry service[edit] Golden Gate with Fort Point in foreground, c. 1891 Conception[edit] Design[edit] Finance[edit] Construction[edit]
Empire State Building. Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York Site Architecture The Empire State Building was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon in the Art Deco style.[30] The Empire State Building is 1,250 ft (381 m) tall to its 102nd floor, or 1,453 feet 8+9⁄16 inches (443.092 m) including its 203-foot (61.9 m) pinnacle.
It was the first building in the world to be more than 100 stories tall, though only the lowest 86 stories are usable. The first through 85th floors contain 2.158 million square feet (200,500 m2) of commercial and office space, while the 86th floor contains an observatory.[33][34] The remaining 16 stories are part of the spire, which is capped by an observatory on the 102nd floor; the spire does not contain any intermediate levels and is used mostly for mechanical purposes. Atop the 102nd story is the 203 ft (61.9 m) pinnacle, much of which is covered by broadcast antennas, and surmounted with a lightning rod.
Form Facade Lights Interior Lobby Elevators Observation decks New York Skyride Spire 2000s. CN Tower. The CN Tower (French: Tour CN) is a 553.33 m-high (1,815.4 ft) concrete communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[3][6] Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower in 2010. It remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, a signature icon of Toronto's skyline, and a symbol of Canada,[7][8] attracting more than two million international visitors annually.[5][9] Its name "CN" originally referred to Canadian National, the railway company that built the tower.
Following the railway's decision to divest non-core freight railway assets, prior to the company's privatization in 1995, it transferred the tower to the Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation responsible for real estate development. History View from CN Tower at night Events. Channel Tunnel. The Channel Tunnel (French: Le tunnel sous la Manche; also referred to as the Chunnel)[2][3] is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover.
At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 ft) deep.[4][5][6] At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi) and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level. The speed limit in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph).[7] The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles—the largest such transport in the world[8]—and international freight trains.[9] The tunnel connects end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines.
Origins[edit] Proposals and attempts[edit] Arrangement[edit]