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" Cowboys Stadium Arlington, Texas  Yes, that gargantuan, 1.2 million-pound video screen\u2014the world&amp;#039;s largest roof-hung hi-def display\u2014was installed too low, hanging in the path of the occasional punt. And new stadiums, particularly ones that cost roughly $1.15 billion, are always controversial. But from an engineering perspective, Cowboys Stadium is an impressive feat, with the largest operable glass doors on the planet (each panel measures 290 x 220 feet), and a self-cleaning roof, thanks to one of the first installations of a photocatalytic titanium dioxide coating that uses sunlight to break down dirt. Already selected as the home of the 2011 Super Bowl, the 80,000-seat stadium also has the world&amp;#039;s longest single-span roof, a 1225 ft. length that beats London&amp;#039;s Wembley Stadium, the previous record-holder, by some 191 ft. In many ways, Cowboys Stadium is the U.S. answer to Wembley, and is arguably the most ambitious sports venue on any continent.  Incheon Bridge Project Incheon City, Republic of Korea  (Photograph by Nick.ko) It&amp;#039;s another year, and another mammoth bridge has been erected in Asia. South Korea&amp;#039;s Incheon Bridge is not an iconic design, nor is it a revolution in advanced construction materials. And as with Cowboys Stadium, its value is as a revenue generator, promoting business growth in the region, rather than shoring up some lamentable or life-threatening gap in residents&amp;#039; daily lives. It is big, though, with an 800-meter-long-main span that&amp;#039;s the largest for a cable-stayed bridge in the nation, and the fifth largest globally. Segments of the bridge, which is actually a series of bridges, called for the use of a 3000-ton floating crane. The Incheon&amp;#039;s real innovation might be its financial underpinnings and project management. The bridge was paid for by a combination of government funding and private investment from Korean and foreign parties. This is still relatively uncharted territory for major infrastructure projects, and while the completion of the Incheon is a promising start, the success or failure of these kinds of public-private works will be measured in decades.  Riverbank Filtration Tunnel &amp;amp;amp; Pump Station Louisville, Kentucky  This project&amp;#039;s unassuming name belies a groundbreaking approach to water filtration, called Riverbank Filtration (RBF), which uses the natural properties of materials like gravel and sand to pull contaminants from drinking water. In theory, RBF is a cheaper, more sustainable alternative to chemical treatments, but it had never been applied to a project of this size in the United States, or to a system as complex as the one proposed by the Louisville Water Company, which serves some 700,000 customers. Water flowing from the Ohio river is filtered through the riverbank and gathered in various collector wells. It then seeps into a central tunnel, leading to a treatment plant. Aside from requiring fewer chemicals, engineers believe the water&amp;#039;s stable temperature will mean fewer water main breaks. The final system yields 60 million gallons per day, and has real potential to become a model for RBF systems around the world.  Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir Dam Restoration Project Annapolis, Missouri  (Photo courtesy of AmerenUE) Considering the number of dams and levees around the country that are in urgent need of repair and restoration, it&amp;#039;s understandable that the failure of the Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir Dike in December of 2005 wasn&amp;#039;t exactly national news. A 700-ft. section of the dam gave way, and 1.4 billion gallons of water surged down Proffit Mountain, roughly 90 mi. southwest of St. Louis, Missouri. No one was injured, but the path of destruction, a barren strip of rock, where the water uprooted all vegetation, snaked into a nearby state park, and came close to a highway. To rebuild the dam\u2014which was determined to have failed due to substandard construction design and practices\u2014crews recycled the existing rock fill, and created the world&amp;#039;s largest roller-compacted concrete dam in North America (with 2.8 million cubic yards of the stuff). Just one example of the logistical challenges involved with this massive operation: since access to the remote site required sending buses full of workers down winding mountain roads, crews simply upgraded their route, adding new pavement and additional guardrails and intersections. This is the kind of unsung labor that&amp;#039;s needed to reverse a network of water-related infrastructure that&amp;#039;s taking on the dimensions of a national emergency.  Washington Dulles International Airport Main Terminal APM Station Dulles, Virginia  (Photo courtesy of Loudoun County Department of Economic Development) At the time, it seemed like the future of airports: passengers at Washington Dulles International Airport would wait for their flights in Mobile Lounges, which transported them from the main terminal to their planes with a minimum of effort. A half-century later, with exponentially more fliers, and concourses growing wings and spokes to accommodate the democratization of air travel, the Mobile Lounge is a well-intentioned relic. So after decades of Dulles becoming more conspicuously obsolete (particularly for an airport serving a national capital) the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority installed an automated light-rail people mover system. It was easier said than done\u2014the project had to be completed in and around one of the world&amp;#039;s busiest airports, tunneling through miles of rock and carving out stations beneath current and future facilities without interfering with Dulles&amp;#039;s daily operation. The project resembles a massive puzzle, with sites excavated under and around existing buildings and traffic routes, but the highlight is a 105-foot-wide, 1200-foot-long underground station that supports the weight of the still-in-use Mobile Lounges and other vehicles above it, without a single column. A lattice of cables and concrete beams holds the ceiling in place, while keeping the station itself open, and lit in large part with skylights and other translucent elements. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a6042/top-5-engineering-projects-in-2010/>