Beyond Builds

Indonesia is building a new capital from scratch in the island of Borneo called Nusantara. The move to this future city will cost an estimated $35 billion, and Nusantara is expected to be home to almost 2 million residents by 2045. Indonesia's present capital Jakarta is quite literally sinking. It is burdened by issues of overpopulation and severe flooding, and president Joko Widodo wants to relieve some of the pressure on Jakarta by constructing a new capital.

Over the past decade, Qatar has revamped the entire country to host the FIFA World Cup 2022. In addition to building 8 stadiums from scratch, Qatar has modernized its infrastructure. They have built new cities, new roads, hundreds of new hotels and apartments, and expanded existing airports. To do all this, it has spent more than any other World Cup host country ever—not by a little, but by hundreds of billions of dollars. Currently, the World Cup-related infrastructure projects in Qatar are valued at $300 billion.

Americans have been lamenting the poor condition of the infrastructure for many years. With a trillion dollar mega infrastructure plan already under way, all of this is likely to change very soon. If everything goes according to plan, President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure proposal will help upgrade and expand the nation's physical infrastructure systems while also boosting the American economy.

The largest private real estate development in US history, Hudson Yards is the newest neighborhood in Manhattan. There is a lot going on, and it hasn't even been completed. Today, we talk about Hudson Yards' location in New York City, the differences between its Eastern and Western yards, the structures that are currently there, and some of the debates that have surrounded it.

In North America, there are a growing number of extremely tall skyscrapers. Structures taller than 300 meters are what are referred to call them. In locations like Miami, Toronto, and Austin, some are now being built that would become the highest skyscrapers. Let's look at six of the top forthcoming skyscrapers in North American cities outside of New York in the video below.

The construction of the California High Speed Rail would cost more than any other civil works project in American history. When it was finished, the train would travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than three hours. Even though it has taken 14 years to complete and over $10 billion has been spent, the project is still technically in progress, but it is so far behind schedule. The full cost is currently estimated at $105 billion, and it won't be finished until at least 2029. Originally priced at $33 billion in 2008 with services scheduled to begin in 2020. In today's video, we talk about the most recent changes to this massive project to give you a better idea of where the project is going.

One of Chicago's most recent $1 billion megaprojects is Lincoln Yards. The project, which is being constructed west of Lincoln Park along the Chicago River, has the potential to alter the city's skyline. Lincoln Yards would have office, apartment, and hotel towers as well as dining establishments, shops, entertainment venues, parks, and much more. The builders Sterling Bay intend to build numerous new skyscrapers, some of the most stunning skyscrapers in Chicago. They could rise as high as 700 to 800 feet.

New York's Gateway Program is garnering attention as America's most important infrastructure project. The 10-mile stretch of the Northeast Corridor that is the most congested will be made better with the help of a number of rail infrastructure upgrades included in this project. There is now only one northeast corridor train link that connects Manhattan and New Jersey, and it is degrading quickly and breaking down often. The Gateway Program, which will comprise multiple train infrastructure projects between Manhattan and New Jersey, including a new Hudson Tunnel and Portal Bridges, is being built by NYC to address this issue. The project, which is expected to be completed by the 2030s, will have a number of advantages and strengthen the local economy.

San Francisco’s tallest residential skyscraper is the 645-foot-tall Millennium Tower. Since its completion in 2009, the building has sunk several inches into the soil, and it is also leaning 26 inches at the top. A plan for retrofitting the sinking and leaning tower has been proposed, with an initial estimated cost of $100 Million. But the plan had to be revised due to an unexpected problem and now the cost of the revised fix increased from the initial $100 Million to an estimated $500 million. With millions of dollars at stake, for the engineers it's a race against time to fix this sinking and tilting building.

The American Dream Mall in New Jersey is one of the largest malls in America combining both retail and entertainment to create a futuristic retail complex. A project that has been in the works for 23 years, you would expect it to be one of the most successful megaprojects today, yet it hasn’t met its gallant expectations. The mall has seen multiple owners, costed $5 billion to build and racked up $3 billion in debt. There is still some hope left for this mega mall, and in today’s video we will see how it all started.

The iconic Austin skyline has undergone some pretty dramatic changes. During the past two decades, the Texas state capital has transformed from a settlement of fewer than 1,000 residents to the fastest-growing metropolis in the country. Austin’s development boom is in full swing as plans to bring in more than 20 new skyscrapers with hundreds of stories in the next few years, transforming the city’s skyline.

The New $4.4BN Mega Bridge Connecting US & Canada!

The New Skyscrapers Changing Miami’s Skyline!

China has set a record for building the most number of skyscrapers in recent times. Almost half of the world’s tallest buildings are found in China. After Dubai's Burj Khalifa was built, it was anticipated that China would become competitive enough to raise another skyscraper to dwarf the giant building. But here's the twist, the country pulled an end card to building supertall buildings, taking the world by surprise.

The MSG Sphere at The Venetian Las Vegas is a gigantic music and entertainment arena currently under construction. According to latest updates, the building will be completed by the second half of 2023. Soon, the wait will be over and people from all over the world will get to experience world class entertainment at this unique venue.

The interstate H3 is the largest and most expensive public works project ever completed in Hawaii, and it has a long and turbulent history. While this freeway is one of the most beautiful sites one could see, the controversies seem to have eclipsed the beauty. It took a great deal of time, money, and political support to build this highway, and in today’s video we will discuss how this megaproject came to be and how it changed the state of Hawaii.