Top 15 Humanity's Costliest Builds Unveiled

9. Project of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge

Location: Japan Sea Complete Expense: $3.6 Billion Year Completed: 1998 The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project links the Honshu and Shikoku Islands with a network of three bridge systems and their corresponding expressways. The "Great Set Bridge," which connects the three systems with eighteen bridges—including the longest suspension bridge in the world, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge—was the first of the three systems to be finished.

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Project for the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge ©take_p / Shutterstock Twenty adjusted mass dampeners were installed in each of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge's towers by engineers, causing the bridge to sway in the opposite direction of the wind. The fact that this suspension bridge required more than two million laborers and 100,000 tons of steel to build over the course of ten years is what makes it even more amazing.

10. Airport International in Hong Kong

Place: China's Hong Kong $20 billion was spent overall. Year Completed: 1998 After a construction period of six years and an estimated cost of $20 billion, the Hong Kong International Airport boasted the largest passenger terminal structure in the world when it was completed in 1998. The Hong Kong government decided in 2012 to pursue an extension proposal that called for the construction of a third runway, which would run parallel to the other two runways. The project was expected to be finished by 2030 and generate over 100,000 new jobs.

Hong Kong International Airport, Shutterstock and Phillip Kraskoff The maximum number of flights at Hong Kong International Airport would be about 62 thousand annually if the third runway were to be finished early (by 2024). It turns out that every 36 seconds, an airplane takes off. No other airport in the world moves more cargo than Hong Kong International Airport, which handles close to 5 million metric tons annually. Once the new runway is completed, the volume of cargo will increase by an additional 80%, or about 8.9 million metric tons annually.