| Extreme Engineering unveils some of the most ambitious architectural plans of our times. Some are theoretical; others are in the works. But all of these modern marvels pose challenges that stretch the definition of what's possible. Watch as jaw-dropping computer animation and first-hand accounts from builders, designers and engineers breathe life into the most extreme construction projects ever conceived. Hundreds of feet below the Eastern Highlands – a vast ice plateau 200 miles northeast of Reykjavik, Iceland and just 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle – a determined group of engineers and diggers have taken on the task of a lifetime: They're trying to carve more than 45 miles of connected tunnels through solid rock. It's all part of an audacious plan by the Icelandic government to turn ice into electricity. Watch as the team of world-class tunnel diggers – men who've helped drill some of the toughest, deepest and longest tunnels, including New York City's Third Water Tunnel, the "Chunnel" connecting England and France, and the first crossing under China's Yangtze River – struggle with the challenges of their titanic task and endure the grueling elements in one of the most remote, desolate places in the world. Using mammoth tunnel boring machines, they slowly chew through the layers of solid rock – drilling through up to 250 feet of earth a day. But with each step forward, the ever-present danger of a cave-in or subterranean fire grows. |
