One look is not enough to understand how hard it was to build this 20-road interchange in China. This huge piece of infrastructure is called the Huangjuewan flyover, and it was partly opened to the public in 2017. Since then, it has become a landmark frame on Getty images.
If you want to look again, feel free to, and take your time to see everything. You can never get enough of that.
At first glance, it might seem pointless to add lanes to a road that will get too crowded with cars sooner or later. There is a city nearby with eight million people, so that shouldn’t be hard.
So, let’s just answer the question you have. The Huangjuewan flyover was built for a reason.
An official in charge of the construction told South China Morning Post (SCMP) in 2017 that the design of the interchange was based on the complicated landform of Chongqing municipality in southwest China.
The airport, the city, and an expressway all needed to connect to each other, so the area needed an interchange. Wired said in a report that the designers had to send cars through roads on five different levels, with the highest level being 12 stories high. The interchange has 20 lanes that go in eight different directions and 15 ramps. It is thought that the length of all the roads at the interchange is a little over 10 miles (16.4 km).
The building of this interchange started in September 2009, and most of the work was done in 2017. In the fall of that year, some small repairs and ramps were finished.
What do people think about it?
When you look at something so big, you can only feel two things: fear and awe for the person or people who made it happen.
When it was made public for the first time in 2017, the exchange became a big deal on the internet and got some very sharp responses. Comments like “You can visit, but you can never leave” were all over social media.
On normal highways, Map apps often find out too late that the driver hasn’t taken the right lane or exit. One can only imagine what GPS-based devices must be going through on a hellish track like this, especially since the interchange has five levels.
Someone on the Internet felt sorry for the GPS in the car, wondering how it could find the right way if the first one didn’t work. Someone on the Internet gave the device a voice and wrote that it was saying “Qui soy? What do I do? “SCMP said so. Another joked, “My GPS told me, “Go wherever you want and leave me alone!”
But photographer Fred Dufour saw beauty in the construction. He worked hard to take pictures of the building from different angles so he could show the engineering marvel to the rest of the world.
Wired said in its report that if you take the wrong exit and are worried about what will happen, you can turn around a half mile down the road.