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50 Examples Of Brilliant Infrastructure That Are A Testimony To Human Ingenuity (New Pics)
If you think that infrastructure can’t be cool, think again. Transport systems, public utilities, telecommunications, and various facilities might sound dull and dreary on the surface, but that’s not the case. Not only are they vital to keep civilization healthy and society functioning, but they can also look incredibly impressive from a design perspective.
Today, we’re showcasing some of the most out-of-the-box examples of infrastructure from all over the globe, as showcased on this brilliant online group. Scroll down for some awesome sights. And if you have any friends who are engineers or are really into architecture and design, be sure to share the pics with them, too.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Holland, Michigan's Downtown Has Heated Streets And Sidewalks That Melt Snow And Ice
The system utilizes wastewater from a nearby power plant which circulates through 120 miles of plastic piping underneath the pavement. It can melt an inch of snow in an hour even at 20 degrees Fahrenheit... No salt!
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#2
Highway Turned Into A Canal In Utrecht, Netherlands
#3
Sart Canal Bridge, Belgium... So Surreal, So Serene
#4
Layers
#5
At Nearly 24 Miles Long, The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway In Louisiana Stands As The Longest Continuous Bridge Over Water In The World
#6
Animal Crossing In Bydgoszcz, Poland
#7
Boston - Big Dig Before vs. After
Upstaged75 1 year ago (edited)
I remember driving around Boston during the Big Dig. It made me want to scream!
#8
Wave Pedestrian Bridge - Kyiv, Ukraine
#9
Chiba Suspended Monorail, Tokyo Metropolitan Area
#10
The Monorail In Chiba, In Tokyo's Suburbs
#11
Amsterdam Netherlands In 1971 vs. 2020
Forrest Hobbs 1 year ago (edited)
Look at how much cleaner the air is. And how many people are travelling using muscle power. Think about the improvement in length and quality of life the Dutch have achieved just by noticing that 1) they've got a flat country and 2) bicycles are great on the flat.
#12
Bus Lanes In Essen, Germany
#13
Map Of La Plata, Argentina. One Of The Best Planned Cities In The World
#14
The Age Of Walls Overlooking The Age Of Bridges, Highspeed Train, Beijing, China
#15
The Longest Highspeed Rail Line In The World Crossing A Desert. Lanzhou- Xinjiang Railway
#16
The Bike Lane In Downtown Seattle
#17
The Monorail In Wuppertal, Germany
2WheelTravlr 1 year ago
I'm so happy this is still in operation. What a lovely piece of early machine age design!
#18
Bridge In The Netherlands
#19
London Sanitation Engineers Overseeing New Sewer Construction Following The Great Stink Of 1858
#20
Saale-Elster-Talbrücke, Germany's Longest Railway Bridge And Also Europe's Longest Highspeed-Rail Bridge
#21
Dutch Roundabout With Center Bus Lane
#22
Mass Timber Parking In Wendlingen, Germany
#23
Infrastructure That Never Was : The City Of Cincinnati Started To Build A Rapid Transit System In The 1920s But Only Completed Seven Miles Of Subway Lines Before The Project Was Abandoned
#24
The Marenostrum Supercomputer
#25
Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge, China
kissmychakram 1 year ago
Absolutely not. No thank you. I have a terrible fear of bridges, this is my worst nightmare.
#27
Turning Off Niagara Falls For The First Time In 12,000 Years 1969
General Anaesthesia 1 year ago
They only turned off the American Falls. Goat Island is to the right of the picture, and at the top of it you can see the dam that diverts the water from the American falls to the Canadian Horseshoe falls that kept falling.
#28
The New Gordie Howe Bridge Progresses Across The Detroit River
#29
Retro-Future Infrastructure: A 1913 Vision Of A Five-Storied, Six Level Super Street In New York, With The Claim That It Would 'Increase The Efficiency Of Business Traffic By 25 Percent
#30
Favourite Airport Layout/Design? Midway Airport, Chicago
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
One thing I found out recently was that when they say "runway 27", it's telling you that it's at 270 degrees (ie west).
#31
Earthquake In Japan Raises The Manhole Above Ground
#32
Nouvelle Route Du Littoral, Most Expensive Road Of The World In Réunion Island, France
Upstaged75 1 year ago
Reunion used to be one of the best surfing spots in the world. Until they had 27 fatal shark attacks. 65 attacks overall. Now surfing is banned. The sharks (Bull and Tiger) are most likely drawn closer to shore by environmental changes like pollution, overfishing, and freshwater runoff.
#33
Takaosan Highway Interchange, Tokyo
#34
Five Way Streetcar Junction Being Built In Toronto, 1923
#35
Shonan Monorail, Near Tokyo, Japan
#36
Anji Khad Bridge- India's First Cable-Stayed Railway Bridge
#37
Łódź, Poland
#38
Nanjing South Railway Station
#39
This Is What A Highspeed Rail Line Cutting Through A Plateau Looks Like, Ningxia Province, China
Jrog 1 year ago
That is an ecological disaster. The Ningxia plateau is steppe territory that is considered endangered and an ecologically sensitive area. The chinese government decided to cut through the landscape like a noob Transport Tycoon player, interrupting migratory routes and separating animal communities that are now declining. They could have just brushed through the bibliography on "road ecology" and built tunnels as we do in the rest of the world, solve the problem at a slightly more expensive price, yet they didn't care.
#40
Infrastructure P**n Or Ugly?
Mike Goslin 1 year ago
Strangely, those wind turbines will probably make more profit than the farmland underneath it.
#42
Chongqing East Railway Station
#44
Three Gorges Dam, World's Largest Hydro-Power Project
Brian Garcia 1 year ago
Soon to be eclipsed by another giant d**n in China that will dwarf the Three Gorges. Unintended consequence with the Three Gorges and undoubtedly the next behemoth is seismic activity in an otherwise benign area. Park that much water in a single area and that's a lot of weight.
#45
Somewhere In China
#46
3 Train Systems In Bangkok
#48
Monorail Under Construction In Monterrey, Mexico
The Cute Cat 1 year ago
Monorail is actually much less efficient compared to other train technology
#49
I Find Some Beauty In Road Interchanges
#50
Palo Verde Nuclear Powerplant, USA's Largest Thermal Powerplant And 2nd Largest Of Any Powerplant
Forrest Hobbs 1 year ago
I see condensing cooling water - where do they get it from in that arid landscape?
#51
Frigid Passage: The Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw Cuts A Track Through 30 Inches Of Fast Ice On Lake Michigan’s Green Bay
David Houde 1 year ago
Must be an old photo. The Mackinaw was decommissioned in 2006 and is now a floating museum. I did a tour a couple years ago when I was in Mackinaw City, MI.
#52
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge Under Construction, New York City
nottheactualphoto 1 year ago
Fun fact: for most of the bridge's existence, its name was misspelled on the road signs.
#54
The Highway Bridge Damaged By The Earthquake And Its New Route
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What do you think ?
Daniela Lavanza 1 year ago
No Millau viaduct? How surprising, it belongs in this list to me. RV-AK473_M...180714.jpg 
Zig Zag Wanderer 1 year ago
I used to live near here, long before it was built. Absolutely amazing to see now!
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Smeghead Tribble Down Under 1 year ago
I hear those things are awfully loud...
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Lotekguy 1 year ago
I wish my fellow Americans who smugly believe we are still number one in every respect would look at these and other pictures that show how far behind we are falling in infrastructure, housing and other perks of civilization.
bodhisayumi 1 year ago
You should be proud to be this an American. We are Always #1. Maybe you should relocate. North Korea?
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Daniela Lavanza 1 year ago
No Millau viaduct? How surprising, it belongs in this list to me. RV-AK473_M...180714.jpg
Zig Zag Wanderer 1 year ago
I used to live near here, long before it was built. Absolutely amazing to see now!
Load More Replies... Smeghead Tribble Down Under 1 year ago
I hear those things are awfully loud...
Load More Replies... Lotekguy 1 year ago
I wish my fellow Americans who smugly believe we are still number one in every respect would look at these and other pictures that show how far behind we are falling in infrastructure, housing and other perks of civilization.
bodhisayumi 1 year ago
You should be proud to be this an American. We are Always #1. Maybe you should relocate. North Korea?
Load More Replies...
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