Infrastructure

In 2028, Los Angeles will become the first city to hold the (modern) Olympic Games for a third time – and it's planning to do so with no new infrastructure built, and as a "no-cars" event in one of the world's most car-reliant cities. Here's how.

Taiwan has cut the red ribbon on a giant infrastructure project its own construction team once deemed "impossible:" the 3,000-ft-long, single-tower asymmetric cable-stayed Danjiang Bridge that connects Taipei districts separated by the Tamsui River.

Finland's just inaugurated its longest bridge, and not a single a car or motorcycle will ever be allowed on it. The Kruunuvuori Bridge is designed only for pedestrians, cyclists, and trams – and it's possibly the largest of its kind.

South Metro Atlanta is set to become home to a demonstration pilot for a publicly accessible automated transit network using autonomous electric vehicles on dedicated guideways – promising to deliver rail-like capacity at bus-fare prices.

Nobody really enjoys seeing power lines, but maybe they could be turned from an eyesore into a local point of pride. Such is the thinking behind this creative project that transforms power line pylons into huge animal sculptures.

Dubai authorities have inked a deal with The Boring Company to create a network of tunnels likened to a "wormhole" that will allow users to move at speed under Dubai's streets and avoid traffic congestion.

A decade after it was revealed, London's "super sewer" is now finally complete. The mega-project is expected to revolutionize the handling of waste in the British capital, boosting the capacity of its 150-year-old sewer system significantly.

GridServe has partnered with Cornwall Services to install an Electric Super Hub in the heart of the popular tourist destination, which includes a solar canopy and a huge battery to support the grid supply to a dozen EV chargers.

Working with private industry, the University of Cambridge has gone one step beyond 3D printing with a concrete infrastructure unit that was not only made in an hour, but incorporates sensors to make it self-monitoring and, one day, self repairing.

Bay Area startup Earthgrid says it's developing a plasma boring robot that can dig underground tunnels 100x faster and up to 98% cheaper than existing tech, and it plans to use it to start re-wiring America's energy, internet and utilities grids.

San Francisco startup Petra says its new contactless thermal drilling robot can make steady progress through super-hard rock that would normally destroy drilling equipment – and it's absolutely mesmerizing to watch "Swifty" in action.

Although fiber optic internet cable has many advantages over metal cable, it frequently has to be distributed underground – this limits its usability. Facebook, however, has developed a robot that could wrap the cable around existing power lines.