ACONCAGUA

Aconcagua (Spanish pronunciation: [akoŋˈkaɣwa]) is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes Mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. with a summit elevation of 22,838 feet. It lies 70 miles northwest of the provincial capital, the city of Mendoza, about 3 miles from San Juan Province, and 9 miles from Argentina's border with Chile.  Aconcagua also has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no higher land for 10,273 miles when its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush.

U.S. ROUTE 20

U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. Spanning 3,365 miles, it is the longest road in the United States. In the eastern U.S. the route is roughly parallel to Interstate 90 (I-90), which is the longest Interstate Highway in the U.S. There is a discontinuity in the official designation of US 20 through Yellowstone National Park, with unnumbered roads used to traverse the park.  The highway's eastern terminus is in Boston, Massachusetts, at Kenmore Square, where it meets Massachusetts Route 2. Its western terminus is in Newport, Oregon, at an intersection with US 101, within a mile of the Pacific Ocean.

U.S. ROUTE 20

SIGN AT WESTERN ORIGIN IN NEWPORT, OREGON

TOP 15 FASTEST-GROWING CITIES BY PERCENT CHANGE 7/1/2022-23

TOP 15 LARGEST-GAINING CITIES BY NUMERIC CHANGE 7/1/2022-23

WEIRTON, WEST VIRGINIA

 

Weirton is a city in Hancock and Brooke counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia.  The city of Weirton extends from the Ohio border on the west to the Pennsylvania border on the east at a point where the northern extension of West Virginia is 5 miles across. It is the only community in the United States to touch two different states on either side and its own state on the other two.

MARINA CITY AND LAKE POINT TOWER CHICAGO

 

From 1960 until 1991, Chicago was home to the tallest residential buildings in the world. 1960-1968 MARINA CITY I AND MARINA CITY II:  Marina City is a mixed-use residential-commercial building complex designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg.  The complex consists of two 587-foot 65-story apartment towers, and occupies almost an entire city block on State Street on the north bank of the Chicago River on the Near North Side, directly across from the Loop.  When finished, the two towers were both the tallest residential buildings and the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the world. The complex was built as a "city within a city", featuring numerous on-site facilities including a theater, gym, swimming pool, ice rink, bowling alley, stores, restaurants, and, of course, a marina.  1968-1991 LAKE POINT TOWER:  Lake Point Tower is a residential skyscraper located on a promontory of the Lake Michigan waterfront in Chicago, just north of the Chicago River at 505 North Lake Shore Drive. It is the only skyscraper in the city east of Lake Shore Drive.  Lake Point Tower was completed in 1968, is approximately 645 feet tall, and was the tallest apartment building in the world at that time.  Its tall curved three wing 'Y' shape was an inspiration for the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by Chicago-born architect Adrian Smith.

MARINA CITY I AND II (LEFT) AND LAKE POINT TOWER (RIGHT)

NEEVA TOWERS FKA THE-RENNAISSANCE-MOSCOW TOWERS

 

The Neva Towers, formerly the Renaissance Moscow Towers, is a complex of two skyscrapers located on plots 17 and 18 of the Moscow International Business Center (MIBC) in Moscow, Russia. Tower 1, at 302 991 feet tall with 65 floors, is the ninth-tallest building in Europe. Tower 2, at 1,132 feet tall with 79 floors, is the tallest residential building in Europe and the fourth-tallest building in Europe. The complex was completed in 2020.

NEVA TOWERS

432 PARK AVENUE – NEW YORK CITY

432 Park Avenue is a residential skyscraper at 57th Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, overlooking Central Park. The 1,396-foot-tall tower was developed by CIM Group and Harry B. Macklowe and designed by Rafael Viñoly. A part of Billionaires' Row, 432 Park Avenue has some of the most expensive residences in the city, with the median unit selling for tens of millions of dollars. At the time of its completion in 2015, 432 Park Avenue was the third-tallest building in the United States and the tallest residential building in the world. As of 2023, it is the sixth-tallest building in the United States, the fifth-tallest building in New York City, and the third-tallest residential building in the world.

432 Park Ave. New York, NY

CHISUMLE-DEMCHOK ROAD AKA UMLING LA ROAD

 

In 2017 Chisumle-Demchok Road was constructed in Ladakh, India between Chisumle and Demchok villages passing through Umling Pass in the Himalaya Mountains. As the road ascends to a height of 19,300 feet in the vicinity of Umling Pass, it becomes the world’s highest motorable road.  Of note is that Chisumle-Demchok Road is at an altitude that is higher than the Mount Everest Base Camp.

THE KARAKORAM (KKK) HIGHWAY

The Karakoram Highway, known by its initials KKK is an 810-mile national highway which extends Hasan Abdal in the Punjab province of Pakistan to the Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit-Baltistan, where it crosses into China and becomes China National Highway 314.  The Karakoram Highway is the highest paved international road in the world. It is also the highest border crossing in the world, at an elevation of 16,000 feet. For comparison, Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Western Europe, is 15,780 feet and Mount Whitney, the highest point in the 48 contiguous US states, is 14,468 feet.

THE IRTYSH RIVER

The Irtysh is a river in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob, and at a length of 2,640 miles, it is the longest tributary river in the world.  The Irtysh and the Ob River together constitute the world’s seventh longest river system.  From its origins as the Kara-Irtysh (Black Irtysh) in the Mongolian Altay mountains in Xinjiang, China, the Irtysh flows northwest through Lake Zaysan in Kazakhstan, meeting the Ishim and Tobol rivers before merging with the Ob near Khanty-Mansiysk in western Siberia, Russia.

GOAT CANYON TRESTLE

Goat Canyon Trestle is a wooden trestle in San Diego County, California. At a length of 597–750 feet, it is the world's largest all-wood trestle. Goat Canyon Trestle was built in 1933 as part of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, after one of the many tunnels through the Carrizo Gorge collapsed. The railway had been called the "impossible railroad" upon its 1919 completion. It ran through Baja California and eastern San Diego County before ending in Imperial Valley. The trestle was made of wood, rather than metal, due to temperature fluctuations in the Carrizo Gorge. By 2008, most rail traffic stopped using the trestle.   To resist Goat Canyon's high winds, it was built with a 14° curve. Additionally, the bridge was built without nails.

TRESTLE AS SEEN FROM THE SOUTHEAST IN 2016

JEFF DAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS

Jeff Davis County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,996. The county is named for Jefferson Davis, who served as the 23rd United States Secretary of War in the 1850s, and as Confederate president.  Jeff Davis County is recognizable for its unique shape; it is a pentagon that has no north–south nor east–west boundaries, save for a six-mile line serving as its southern boundary. It is the only county in the United States that touches a foreign country (Mexico) at a single point.

JEFF DAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS

BUSTER BOYD BRIDGE

The Buster Boyd Bridge is a four-lane automobile bridge spanning the Catawba River/Lake Wylie between Lake Wylie, York County, South Carolina and Steele Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The bridge carries/connects SC 49 and NC 49.  The Buster Boyd Bridge is the only bridge in which North Carolina is on the southern end and South Carolina is on the northern end. In other words, if you are travelling across the bridge from South Carolina into North Carolina, you are travelling south and if you are travelling from North Carolina into South Carolina, you are travelling north.

BUSTER BOYD BRIDGE

THE 48TH PARALLEL NORTH

 

The longest continuous east–west distance on land is 6,665 miles along the latitude 48°24'53"N, from the west coast of France (Pointe de Corsen, 48°24′53″N 4°47′44″W) through Central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China, to a point on the east coast of Russia (48°24′53″N 140°6′3″E).

OJOS DEL SALADO

 

Nevado Ojos del Salado is a dormant complex volcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border. It is the highest volcano on Earth, the highest peak in Chile and the second-highest summit of the Andes.  The complex extends over an area of 27–62 square miles and its highest summit reaches an altitude of 22,615 feet above sea level.  Ojos del Salado hosts the highest lake in the world in the form of the unnamed crater lake in the summit crater. It lies at 21,260–21,330 feet elevation and covers an area of 65,000 square feet. Waters in a creek flowing into this lake reach temperatures 105.4 °F.  On April 21, 2007, the Chilean duo of Gonzalo Bravo and Eduardo Canales Moya, driving a modified Suzuki Samuri, reached an altitude of 21,942 feet on Ojos del Saldo, thus setting the high-altitude record for a four-wheeled (land) vehicle.

Ojos del Salado on the Argentina-Chile border, the world's highest volcano at 22,615 feet

STEINWAY TOWER (111 WEST 57TH STREET)

 

111 West 57th Street, also known as Steinway Tower, is a supertall residential skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.  The 60 apartments in the tower range in cost from $18 million to $66 million per unit, and offer 360-degree views of the city. It is located just south of Central Park, along a stretch of Manhattan’s 57th Street known as “Billionaires’ Row.”  The main portion of the building is an 84-story, 1,428-foot (435-meter) tower designed by SHoP Architects and completed in 2021.  The tower is the fourth-tallest building in the United States as of November 2022, as well as the thinnest skyscraper in the world with a width-to-height ratio of about 1:24.

STEINWAY TOWER
111 WEST 57TH STREET
NEW YORK, CITY

HUANGJUEWAN FLYOVER

The Huangjuewan Interchange in Chongqing, China, also known as Panlong Interchange connects Chaotianmen Bridge, Cimushan Tunnel, Inner Ring Expressway and Chongqing Jiangbei Airport.  The Huangjuewan Interchange consists of 5 levels, with the highest-level towering at a height of 12 stories. The interchange spans 10 miles, has 15 ramps and 20 lanes all leading in 8 different directions.  Although the structure is more complicated, it is not difficult to distinguish the direction. There are many ramps, but each ramp has only two junctions, the direction is either left or right, and the traffic direction is very clear.

"BIG CARL"

 

"Big Carl" is the nickname of the SGC-250, the world's largest land-based crane. The crane is designed and built by Belgium-based Sarens and was launched in 2018.  "Big Carl" is the nickname of the crane's director of technical solutions, Carl Sarens. The crane's full name is SGC-250, which stands for "Sarens Giant Crane 250".  "Big Carl" is 250 meters tall at its tallest configuration and can lift 5,000 tons at a radius of 40 meters. It has 52 counterweight containers, each weighing 100 tons, and 12 engines. The crane also has a load moment of 250,000MT and runs on 96 individual wheels.  "Big Carl" has been stationed at Hinkley Point in Somerset, UK since 2019, where it has been used in the construction of the new nuclear power site.

THE ACCO SUPER BULLDOZER AND THE KOMATSU D575A TRACTOR-CRAWLER

The Acco Super Bulldozer is the largest and most powerful tracked bulldozer ever made. It was built in Portogruaro in northern Italy by the Umberto Acco company. This bulldozer has a gross weight of 183 tons and is powered by two 675 hp (503 kW) Caterpillar engines placed horizontally opposed, which deliver a total combined output of 1,350 hp (1,010 kW). The super bulldozer has a blade that is 23 feet wide and 9 feet high. The total length of the bulldozer is over 40 feet from the tip of the blade to the ripper on the rear. The ripper alone is about 10 feet tall, being powered by huge hydraulic rams.  This bulldozer was initially built to be exported to Libya in the early 1980s to help in land development. As the Leader of Libya, Colonel Gaddafi, was heavily involved with international terrorism at that time, the United States imposed a trade embargo on that country in 1986. As a direct consequence of these trade restrictions, the completed Acco Dozer was never shipped to its intended destination. This bulldozer has never been put to any operational use and was put into storage where it was built.

THE ACCO SUPER BULLDOZER

The Komatsu D575A tractor crawler produced in a 'SR' (Super Ripper bulldozer/ripper configuration), or as a dedicated bulldozer in the form of the 'SD' (Super Dozer). Is the world’s largest production bulldozer.  Specifications: ·         1,150 horsepower ·         Weighs 152 tons ·         16 feet tall and has a ground clearance of 2 feet 5 inches ·         Maximum speed of 7 miles per hour ·         Blade capacity is approximately 90 cubic yards ·         Fuel tank capacity is around 422 gallons  Due to its immense size, the D575A must be broken down into component form when it is moved from one job site to another. Moving all the components requires six to eight truck loads depending on local laws.

A Komatsu D575 pictured with a man leaning against the push arm.

U.S.COUNTIES WITH THE SAME NAME AS THEIR STATE

IOWA COUNTY, IOWA

NEW YORK COUNTY (MANHATTAN), NEW YORK

OKLAHOMA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA

HAWAII COUNTY, HAWAII (LARGEST COUNTY IN LAND AREA IN THE U.S.)

ARKANSAS COUNTY, ARKANSAS

IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO (LARGEST COUNTY IN LAND AREA IN IDAHO)

UTAH COUNTY, UTAH