From Singapore's Henderson Waves, to Lombard Street in San Francisco, Chris Sweeney at Popular Mechanics is the go-to guy for intelligence on the “strangest” infrastructure around the world. Over the last four months, he’s explored hundreds of bridges, roads, and now tunnels, with more to come. The following interview with Sweeney sheds light on his process, what he’s learned, and how stories like this can help support our industry.
Q: How much did you know about the design/building of bridges, roads, tunnels, and airports before you started this series? A: I wasn’t clueless, and I had a decently firm grasp of the general process. What really shocked me is the many, many smaller aspects of design and planning I never put much thought into. Something that came up in the tunnel story was how designers or engineers need to account for the psychological reaction of people going into confined spaces underground or underwater. It’s the small details like that, which often get overlooked or are not readily apparent.
Q: How much do you know now? A: Working on this series has just been a tremendous learning experience. What I really enjoy is learning about so many different aspects, from the engineering to the historical context of these structures. I’m starting to feel like a human-encyclopedia of so-called strange infrastructure.
Q: How has your appreciation of infrastructure changed since you started this series? A: The scale of the projects I’ve researched continues to blow my mind. When you use a bridge, a road or tunnel, you’re generally in a vehicle that is moving at a decent speed. You get the sense that whatever structure you’re traveling across is large, but when you start examining the specs, timelines and costs from a total standstill, you really feel dwarfed by the structures. It’s amazing thinking about the manpower that goes into these, from the planning stages to ongoing maintenance efforts.
Q: What has been the response from readers been like? A: Readers have seemed to take a real interest in the stories, and a lot of them like to post messages about structures I didn’t include in the article. Whittling down the list of potentials for each story is a bit grueling, and I’ve usually seen and did some research on the structures being suggested by the readers. It’s also cool to see people comment on the bridges and roads they’ve driven on that are featured in the story.
Q: Some of the structures you spotlight are seminal works, and their makers might take issue with being labeled as "strange" -- can you explain further? A: By no way is the term “strange” supposed to carry a negative conation in these articles; it’s a term of endearment and appreciation. Some of the selections are strange because they push the limits of engineering and are first-of-their-kind structures, like London’s Rolling Bridge. Others, however, such as New Mexico’s Capulin Volcano Road or the invasion tunnels under Korea’s DMZ, are just truly bizarre. How many times do you come across a road running up a volcano or a tunnel that could spark an international incident?
Q: How many structures did you consider for each list? A: Too many. I don’t know an exact number, but coming up with the final 18 is a long process that involves a lot of input from my editor at Pop. Mechanics, as well as with the experts I interview for each story. I’m always worried that I won’t be able to find enough choices, but that’s never even come close to being the case.
Q: Of all the roads, bridges, and tunnels you investigated, how many have you seen in the flesh? A: I've seen the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel in Bay Area, Calif., The High Five Interchange in Dallas, Avenida 9 de Julio and Puente de la Mujer in Buenos Aires, Lombard Street in San Francisco, and the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge in Seattle. I really want to see the Millau Viaduct in France, and drive the Atlanterhavsveien in Norway.
Q: What’s next? A: Airports is in the works, and I’ve dug up some outstanding selections for it. I’m not sure what will come afterwards. Any suggestions?
Airports:
1. The construction of runways that must bear the weight of an AirBus... and the wear and tear brought about by airplane mishaps
...even crashes.
2. The wear and tear that daily usage places on the rumways. Particularly temperature effects of jet plane exhaust.
3. Runway Structures that are built over vehicular highways.
4. constructio that anticipates operating the airport in inclement weather, or at night
