Top 15 Humanity's Costliest Builds Unveiled

7. Dubailand

Location: UAE's Dubai Complete Expense: $64.3 billion* Year Completed: Still Going When Dubailand is finished, it will occupy an area of 107 square miles, which is double the size of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. It will also have the most theme parks worldwide. The 607-foot-tall Great Dubai Wheel was supposed to be one of its main attractions; however, the enormous Ferris wheel's design was abandoned in 2012. According to estimates, Tatweer of Dubai Holdings paid more than $64 billion for the intended inclusion of 45 megaprojects and 200 smaller projects in Dubailand.

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Dubailand ©Image: Shutterstock/PPhotoLohi While twenty-two projects are in progress, seventeen projects—including Universal Studios Dubailand—that were once identified as being a part of this massive project have since been discontinued for a variety of reasons.

8. The Interstate Highway System of the United States

Place: USA Complete Expense: $27.2 billion* Completed Year: 1955 The 10 transcontinental routes that make up the 47,622-mile Interstate Highway System vary in length from 17.6 to 3085.3 miles. When it was first implemented in 1955, the construction was only expected to take ten years. Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law in June of that year. The act's original authorized amount, $25 billion, was intended to fund more than forty thousand kilometers.

The American Interstate Highway System, ©Shutterstock/RRoschetzky Photography The original Interstate Highway System was completed in 35 years, and $114 billion was spent during that time—barely more than the $25 billion and 12 years that were projected to be needed for completion. In the future, there are plans to improve land routes by connecting Sonora, Mexico, to Alberta, Canada, and Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Ontario, Canada, by an extension of the Interstate Highway.