Mega Builders

The city of Madrid has hired a team of top-notch German engineers to design the only tunneling machine in the world big enough to bury its busy ring road deep underground. Now the Germans have to ship the monster 15.2-meter machine to Spain, put it all together and start tunneling. The schedule is a killer. Assemble the hundreds of thousands of parts to exacting standards in only seven weeks. There’s a major complication -- a huge culture clash between the super-efficient German chief mechanic and the Spanish construction workers he’s depending on to get finished in time. Plus, the whole German team is intimidated by the super-power of their untested mega-machine.

A team of the toughest construction workers in the world has taken on the building of the biggest concrete arch bridge in North America -- right next to the famous Hoover Dam. The job description is death-defying: blast huge foundations out of sheer rock cliffs in the scorching desert heat, swing from cables in high winds, and work with risky new crane technology that’s never been tried before. Only the bravest need apply.

A 'rescue tunnel' must be cut to free one of The World's Largest Machines stuck head first in The World's Longest Tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel under the Swiss Alps, a key link in Europe's expanding high speed rail network. Tunnel Boring Machines are so big - this one is the length of four soccer fields - you don't back them up! So Tunnel Manager Erich Kapeller must cut a 'rescue tunnel' to the front of Gabi 2 to free it.

Off the coast of Vancouver Island the airframe of a Boeing 737 will soon begin a new life underwater, as a gigantic artificial reef. The challenge: transport the grounded jet to the sink site, mount it on a custom-made cradle system, and lower it to the bottom of the sea - intact. Team leaders Howard Robins and Peter Luckham are in for the ride of their lives. Miscalculation at any point could send their mega-project crashing down into a twisted pile of metal.

It’s so massive it’s come to be known as the Bangkok Mega-Bridge – and it hasn’t even been built yet. In Thailand, a crack team of engineers and builders have come together from around the world to raise Asia’s largest double-span bridge. And – if they can come in on schedule - they’ll set the record for the fastest build of a stay cable bridge of its size anywhere in the world.

At Six Flags Magic Mountain just north of LA the worlds longest, fastest and tallest Flying Roller Coaster is under construction. Park Operations Manager Tim Burkhart has just 6 months to get the 17th coaster at his thrill park open for the busiest part of the season – Spring Break 2007.