Engineering the Overseas Highway connecting the Florida Keys

How the US built the Interstate Highway system

As late as World War II, it took a well-prepared motorist roughly 10 days to cross America from coast to coast in a car. That all changed when the nation undertook its biggest public infrastructure project in 1956, the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, initiating a 36-year, $114B mission to lay 41,000 miles of roads across America. Watch a smart overview here.

Travel the 363-mile Erie Canal, the waterway that cut freight costs by 90% and opened the American frontier.

Learn about how highways are designed and the geometry behind what makes them safe and efficient.

The US finished what the French had started with Panama's canal

For about two decades, Suez Canal-builder and Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps led the project, but financial troubles forced it into the hands of the US, who completed it in 1914. This timeline, made to accompany the definitive PBS American Experience documentary about the canal, highlights major moments in its construction.

The century of the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through a 51-mile route that transformed global shipping when it opened in 1914. This breakdown covers how it was built, the workers behind its construction, and why its future may be challenged by climate and competition.

Amateur engineers built America’s first great infrastructure project

With no engineering schools in the US, the Erie Canal was designed and built by self-taught amateurs who improvised new methods and became known as the “Erie School of Engineering.”

The Erie Canal runs 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo

Mostly using the low elevations of the Mohawk River Valley, the canal project connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic seaboard for the first time. This site has a series of old and new maps of the canal.

Infrastructure projects in New York are much more difficult today

The Erie Canal was one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in American history. Many have said such an effort would be impossible today. This article explores why that is the case and ponders the future of large-scale American infrastructure development.

The 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act spent $25B to build 41,000 miles of freeway

Sold to Congress as a national defense measure, the Interstate Highway Act committed the federal government to covering 90 cents of every dollar spent on a 41,000-mile freeway network, a subsidy that reshaped American cities and supercharged car dependency.

Disney World was originally known as the 'Florida Project,' an intentionally vague name intended to keep the theme park's plans secret.

Learn about the construction of the undersea fiber optic cables carrying internet data

Over 750,000 miles of fiber-optic cables run along the seafloor, serving as a freeway for the Internet's data. Despite subsea cable projects costing hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the length of the cable, it remains the fastest and most cost-effective way to send information.

The Panama Canal boosted the US as a world power in trade, engineering, and finance

The effort proved the US could achieve grand engineering projects while granting it influence over (and benefitting economically from) a major interoceanic channel and its host country, Panama.

How the Golden Gate Bridge was constructed

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is one of America's most iconic structures and is considered to be an engineering marvel. Built in 1930's, before the advent of modern construction technology, the structure was considered impossible by contemporary standards.

Future President Dwight D. Eisenhower's terrible experience on a cross-country road trip in 1919 helped inspire him to create the interstate highway system.

The US' coastal vacation destinations were developed with the aid of railroad companies, creating pivotal aspects of the vacation industry.

Before the Panama Canal, there was the Panama railroad

The first ship to cross the isthmus of Panama went not by sea but by land: The paddlewheel steamship Explorer was taken apart and transported by rail, an effort that generated “more trouble than profit,” according to one account.

The Soo Locks raise and lower 1,000-foot freighters 21 feet between Lake Superior and Lake Huron using only gravity, water pressure, and no pumps.

An architect ranks the best bridges in the world

Architext Ezra Groskin builds bridges and argues that the best bridges do more than allow traffic. They should, he believes, encourage human interaction and lingering to ultimately become a destination of their own. Explore ten stunning designs that connect communities, from New York to Switzerland.

The Appalachian Mountains blocked east–west boat travel until the Erie Canal

The Appalachian Mountains, spanning from Alabama to Canada, long hindered inland commerce. The Erie Canal created the first reliable water route through the range by leveraging the natural valley of the Mohawk River, revolutionizing trade and migration.

The 52-mile marvel of engineering inside Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is home to over one million acres of natural beauty, but it also includes 52 miles of a manmade miracle in Going-to-the-Sun Road, which takes drivers on a majestic tour through some of the park's most breathtaking views. This brief history and photo gallery allows you to gain an appreciation for the incredible engineering behind the road’s construction.

The Erie Canal was opened Oct. 25, 1825, with a group of boats from Buffalo to NYC

The unlikely engineering project connecting the Midwest to the Atlantic saw a ceremonious opening as Governor Dewitt Clinton rode with a flotilla of boats from Buffalo on Lake Erie to New York City.

The canal became a highway for American reform movements

Beyond goods, the canal carried ideas. Its corridor hosted Second Great Awakening revivals and became a center for activism—fueling abolitionist networks, women’s suffrage organizing, and other reform movements.

Around 380 underwater cables power the Internet across the world.

On July 29, 1858, two steam-powered battleships met in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There, they connected two ends of a 4,000 kilometer (2,500 mile) long, 1.5 centimeter (0.6 inch) wide cable, linking for the first time the European and North American continents by telegraph.

Niagara Falls was a key Underground Railroad crossing point

In the mid-1800s, the Suspension Bridge near Niagara Falls connected the US to Canada and served as a frequent crossing location for people escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad.

Mapping the route options between the Pacific and Atlantic

This map shows some of the alternative trade route options that are available to shipping companies, from overland routes that rely on railways to transport goods coast-to-coast, to Arctic Ocean passages.

Thomas Jefferson dismissed the Erie Canal as 'little short of madness'

When first proposed, President Jefferson scoffed at the idea of carving a 363-mile waterway through wilderness and rock. With no precedent in American engineering, the canal seemed impossible.

Disney World is largely mosquito-free, thanks to civil engineer Joe Potter

As a former governor of the mosquito-prone Panama Canal zone, Potter understood the danger of standing water. At Disney, Potter built ditches to reduce moisture, designed buildings to channel water away, and more. His efforts help visitors avoid bites, adding to the perceived magic of the magical kingdom.

Walt Disney World essentially ran its own local government for more than 50 years

Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District granted the company county-level authority to construct roads, issue bonds, and self-regulate for decades. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dissolved the arrangement in 2023 after a public dispute with the company.

Reflections on the Erie Canal’s 200-year history

Reflections on the Erie Canal traces the waterway from its 1825 opening to its evolving role today. Each short video in this 10-part series explores a different aspect of the canal and its legacy today.

Explore the technical side of the Erie Canal

Listen to this podcast from Northwestern University exploring the canal’s groundbreaking infrastructure—from locks and aqueducts to its role as America’s first large-scale engineered waterway.

View a map of US data center infrastructure in 2025

Thousands of data centers across the country have already been built, with more under construction or planned. Facilities are connected via transmission and fiber optic lines, with the latter spanning an estimated length of 160 million miles.

Roughly 25,000 workers died building the canal

For each mile of canal that was built, 500 workers lost their lives. The threats came from multiple fronts: mudslides, floods, earthquakes and disease-carrying mosquitoes. Workplace accidents became so common that artificial limb manufacturers competed for contracts with the canal builders.

The wild, early history of the tunnel across the English Channel

Britain and France today are connected by the Chunnel—a tunnel bored roughly 120 feet under the seabed of the notoriously choppy English Channel, which opened in 1994. The dream of integrating Britain with the rest of the continent this way began much earlier, with daring, physically impossible plans proposed as early as the 19th century. Check out the earliest plans here.

A bankrupt flour merchant in debtor's prison helped inspire the Erie Canal.

'Ben Franklin's World' podcast explores the building of the Erie Canal

Historian Janice Fontanella, site manager of the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, joined the podcast to recount the engineering challenges, local innovations, and broader impact of constructing the Erie Canal.

Watch the annual three-day revamp of the Q'eswachaka bridge

Rebuilt every year since the Inca empire, this bridge still is used today by locals who want to traverse the 120-foot-wide gorge that runs beneath it. This three-minute video shows just how much effort goes into its restoration.

The Erie Canal was built without a single dollar of federal funding

After President Madison and Congress rejected the project, New York State financed the 363-mile Erie Canal entirely on its own—authorizing $7M in bonds in 1817.

Watch the Panama Canal's lock system lift a ship 85 feet above sea level to cross between two oceans.

Fascinating 3D animation shows how Romans built roads

Highly efficient engineering and materials production allowed Roman administrators to lay down nearly 50,000 miles of roads across the ancient empire. These roads were built so effectively that many are still around today. Watch this quick 3-minute video to see how they did it.

The original canal had 83 different hand-operated locks

Locks are gated chambers that raise and lower boats between stretches of water at different levels. On the Erie Canal, 83 such locks managed a 565-foot elevation change from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.

Niagara's flow is changed artificially to accommodate tourists and power generation

The natural wonder is also the site of great engineering feats, from the Welland Dam that first allowed ships to travel from the upper lakes to the St. Lawrence Seaway, to one of the first hydroelectric dams.

Why high-speed rail hasn't worked in the US

High-speed rail connects cities across Europe and Asia, but American attempts have faced ballooning costs and delays. California's failed attempt to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles is the most prominent example of the dysfunction.

The Erie Canal transformed New York City into America’s banking capital

By redirecting western trade through New York Harbor, the canal turned New York into the nation’s commercial hub. This surge in commerce shifted financial power from Philadelphia to Wall Street, establishing the city as America’s banking capital.

A Florida nuclear power plant canal system hosts the highest density of crocodiles in North America

Biologists have become regular fixtures at Turkey Point Nuclear Plant, where crocodiles found refuge after Florida's population boom pushed them out of coves and mangrove swamps. Teams working on the plant have done their part to modify the land and help the species thrive.

The ancient Egyptians built prototypes of the modern Suez Canal

The idea to facilitate trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and connect the Eurasian continent was apparent even to pharaohs in the second millennium BCE. Though no physical traces remain, contemporary accounts attest to early, shorter versions of the canal, including from Herodotus.

Working conditions on the Panama Canal, built between 1904 and 1914, were abysmal, with thousands of workers dying on the job.

Scientists discover what looks like an underwater road

Crew aboard the Exploration Vessel Nautilus discvered a “yellow brick road” that looks it leads to Atlantis. Climage change may affect future ocean studies.

Browse a list of the most important invention from each state

From Alabama's electric hearing aid and Idaho's television to Washington's artificial heart and Wisconsin's space suit, this map highlights technological breakthroughs with outsized impacts from each US commonwealth. The District of Columbia is also featured as the state of origin for the telegraph and Morse code. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The Grace Hopper subsea cable transmits internet traffic across the Atlantic

Running between the US, UK, and Spain, the cable is part of an extensive underwater network of fiber optic connections that transmit data across the world at light speed. Equipped with 16 fiber pairs, the private cable was Google's first-ever subsea connection to Spain.

Multiple legal pathways exist for immigrating to the United States

This comprehensive guide outlines various routes to US immigration, including family-sponsored and employment-based visas, as well as humanitarian protections. Navigate the complex American immigration system and understand the options available to prospective immigrants seeking legal entry.