Impressive Buildings

The construction of the Cooper River Bridge was a design/build project to replace two old bridges in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and Charleston  The new bridge, which opened in July 2005 connects two major municipal areas and offers eight lanes for traffic plus a pedestrian/bike lane. The bridge measures 2.5 miles in length and has increased vertical and horizontal navigational clearance over its predecessors to reduce hindrance to river traffic (road deck is 200ft above the average high tide mark).

The Port of Charleston, the second largest container cargo port on the East Coast, has significant economical impact through the large number of jobs, income and tax revenue it produces. This project has enhanced national and international shipping accessibility to the Port.

The Cooper River Bridge cost approximately $632m. It was funded partly through an approved direct Federal TIFIA loan of up to $215m. The loan repayment source is a subordinate pledge of SCTIB revenues. These primarily consist of existing truck registration fees and loan repayments to the SCTIB.
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Manukau Harbour Bridge Auckland, New Zealand.

The Manukau Harbour Bridge is a new 48 km long bridge fromAukland, New Zealand. The goal of the project is to relieve congestion through Auckland, to make travel times shorter and more predictable and allow more room for bus lanes.

The aims are:

To improve efficiency and safety, and to reduce congestion on this part of the SH20 motorway
To increase capacity for vehicles travelling across Manukau Harbour
To improve access between the south-western Motorway and Onehunga to Pakuranga arterial route.

The construction will begin in 2008 and the contractor has not appointed yet. Read the rest of this entry »

The Herren Tunnel is a  780 metre-long road-tunnel underneath the river Trave.

The city of Lübeck in the Hanseatic League region of Northern Germany had a major traffic congestion problem across the Trave River, which divided the old city from the new regions of the city.The traffic used to run across the Trave River via a road bridge, which was desperately in need of replacement

The Federal government offered sufficient funds to the City of Lübeck for a replacement bridge at the initial planning stages in 1997.The best option for the city was the construction of a bridge that will take the traffic along the diverted national B104 under the river.
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The Incheon Bridge, bridge currently under construction, will become the second connection between Incheon and Yeongjong Island, in South Korea. It will be finished in 2009. The Incheon Bridge will be 18,2 km long, of wich the most dificult part will be cable-stayed bridge portion over the main sea route to Incheon port. The Incheon bridge’s budget is estimated to over $2.5 billion.

The foundations will be drilled cast in place piles and the bridge pylons will be Y-shaped concrete structures. The main bridge span is designed for the safe passage of shipping under the bridge. The approach bridges will be constructed using the pre-cast concrete segmental method including the girders and pier caps, while the viaduct bridges will be constructed by the full span precast launching method. Load-testing for the 3m drilled shafts for piling were completed to a standard of 210,000kN in February 2005.
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Empire State Building is located near the intersection between West 34th Street and Fifth Avenue , in New York.

American Society of Civil Engineers named Empire State Building as one of the Seven Wonders of Modern World. The building become the tallest building in New York in 2001, after World Trade Center were destroyed.

Empire State Building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.

The Empire State Building remained the tallest skyscraper in the world for 41 years, and stood as the world’s tallest man-made structure for 23 years. It was surpassed as tallest building by the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 1972.

Petronas Twin Towers (also known as the Petronas Towers or Twin Towers), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was the worlds tallest building, before being surpassed by the Taipei 101. Tower 1 by Hazama Corporation of Japan and Tower 2 was built by the South Korean multinational Samsung Engineering & Construction. They were the world’s tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 if measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural top, the original height reference used by the US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1969 (three additional height categories were introduced as the tower neared completion in 1996)
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Al Burj is a skyscraper proposed by developer Al Nakheel in Dubai. Samsung Engineering & Construction alongside with other redoubtable constructors is in talk with Al Nakheel to become Al Burj constructor. Samsung Engineering & Construction is also building Burj Dubai, Japanese Shimizu Corporation and Australian Grocon. The initial height was 1600 meter, but now it seem will be 1200 meters.

To date very little has been revealed about the exact design but Nakheel keeps stressing that it will become one of the tallest towers in the world and become a new icon for Dubai.

The location established to a plot near Jumeirah Lake Towers and Dubai Marina
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Taipei 101 is one of the tallest building in the world. It is a skyscraper with 101 floors and is located in Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei 101, designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners and constructed from May 1995 to March 2005 primarily by the South Korean multinational Samsung Engineering & Construction, has 508 m.

In 2004, Taipei 101 received the Emporis Skyscraper Award, and was considered one of the new Seven Wonders in the world.

The Taipei 101 stands as an icon of Taipei and Taiwan as a whole. Its safety features enable it to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. Its postmodern style combines tradition and modernity in ways that appear simultaneously Asian and international. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year’s Eve broadcasts, and the landmark appears frequently in television shows, films, print publications, games, , anime media and other elements of popular culture.

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Burj Dubai is a tower under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and it will be the highest man-made structure on Earth. Construction began on September 21, 2004, and it is anounnced to be completed and ready for occupation in 2009 (September).

Burj Dubai is part of a 2 kmp development named ‘Downtown Dubai‘ and it is placed at “First Interchange”, along Sheikh Zayed Road at Doha Street. Burj Dubai’s architect is Adrian Smith who is notorious for working unitl 2006 with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM). The primary builder is Samsung Engineering & Construction, along with Besix and Arabtec. Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction manager.

Dubai should hurry up with the Burj because Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir (Kuwait) will be builded in 2012 and it will be tallest building in the world with 1001m. Until then, Dubai will be very proud of their achievement.

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