This is a list of megaprojects. "Megaprojects are temporary endeavours (i.e. projects) characterized by: large investment commitment, vast complexity (especially in organizational terms), and long-lasting impact on the economy, the environment, and society". The number of such projects is so large that the list may never be fully completed.
Megaprojects may be defined as:
Projects that cost more than US$1 billion and attract a lot of public attention because of substantial impacts on communities, environment, and budgets
Projects can also be "initiatives that are physical, very expensive, and public".
Megaprojects require care in the project development process to reduce any possible optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation. Examples of megaprojects include bridges, tunnels, highways, railways, airports, seaports, power plants, dams, wastewater projects, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), oil and natural gas extraction projects, public buildings, information technology systems, aerospace projects, and weapons systems.
This list identifies a wide variety of examples of major historic and contemporary projects that meet one or both megaproject criteria identified above.
Airbus A380, a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by Airbus.
Antonov An-225 is the longest and heaviest aircraft in service. Only one unit was ever completed.
Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the first nuclear bomber, which cost 50% more than the development of the bombs in the Manhattan Project.
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, with 6 decades of service as a strategic nuclear bomber, it is one of the largest military aircraft ever built. Every other bomber produced in the US after the B-52 have been megaprojects; however, it has not been replaced nor will it be in the foreseeable future.
Boeing 2707 and Lockheed L-2000 supersonic aircraft projects, initiated in 1963 via a US government-funded competition to build the United States' first Supersonic Transport (SST), prototypes never built, ultimately canceled due to political, environmental and economic reasons in 1971.
Boeing 747, a wide-body commercial airliner first produced in 1970, often referred to by the nickname Jumbo Jet, is among the world's most recognizable aircraft with uses for long distance passenger transport, cargo, the US President's official shuttle plane, and as NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
Boeing 787, made in the United States with local and globally sourced parts, is the first major aircraft to be made largely out of composite materials
Concorde, a supersonic passenger airliner, a product of an Anglo-French government treaty that combined the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation, first flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for twenty-seven years.
Convair B-58 Hustler, an all-weather, high altitude supersonic bomber with a fixed delta wing and 4 engines. The Hustler was operational from 1960 to 1970 in the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command for the deployment of up to 5 gravity nuclear weapons.
Eurofighter Typhoon, a twin-engine canard–delta wing multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by a consortium of three separate partner companies -- Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems, and Airbus Defence and Space—working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, that was formed in 1986.
General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, a twin turbofan, multi-role supersonic fighter-bomber. It was active from 1967 to 2010 in the US and Australia with various roles, including nuclear deterrence and electronic warfare. Initially, it was meant to replace a wide breadth of aircraft in the US Navy and Air Force, but due to cost and suitability issues, it only was ever used as a bomber and jammer aircraft, though it performed very well in these roles.
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, a single seat, single turbofan, high performance, multi-role fighter. It is by far one of the most popular and most common jet fighters in the world, active from 1978 to present with operators in 26 countries.
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy was the largest and heaviest aircraft of any kind for over a decade (1970 to 1982). This military cargo plane has the dubious distinction of being the first development program with a billion dollar cost overrun.
F-22 Raptor, a single seat, twin-engine fifth-generation fighter manufactured by Lockheed Martin that uses stealth technology.
Rafale, a French twin-engine delta-wing fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. The Rafale is a multirole combat aircraft capable of undertaking air supremacy, interdiction, reconnaissance, and the airborne nuclear deterrent missions.
Sukhoi PAK FA/HAL FGFA, two variants of fifth-generation stealth fighters jointly being developed by Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Russian and the Indian Air Forces as a combined effort by Russia and India.
F-35 Lightning II, a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine stealth multirole fighter manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Variants of the F-35 are planned to replace five classes of combat aircraft that are presently in use with roles as varied as close air support, tactical bombing, and air defense missions.
Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, a US heavy bomber with "low observable" stealth. Total program cost including development, engineering, and testing averaged $2.1 billion per aircraft in 1997.
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, a twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to intercept air threats and attack ground targets.
KH-11 reconnaissance satellite, manufactured by Lockheed Corporation and launched between 1976 and 1990.
Rockwell B-1 Lancer, a supersonic bomber with a variable-sweep wing built in the 1980s as a strategic bomber. It has since acquired conventional and multi-role capabilities.
Saab JAS 39 Gripen, a Swedish 4.5 generation Multirole jet fighter developed by Saab since 1978. Estimated project cost is US$19 billion.
Tupolev Tu-144, the first supersonic transport aircraft, made by the Russian aircraft company Tupolev, first flown on 31 December 1968 and entered service on 26 December 1970.
Tupolev Tu-160, the world's largest and heaviest combat aircraft, the world's largest supersonic aircraft, and the largest variable-sweep aircraft ever built. (The North American XB-70 Valkyrie had a higher empty weight and maximum speed but never entered production.)
Chengdu J-20, a fifth-generation, stealth, twin-engine fighter aircraft prototype developed by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
While most megaprojects are planned and undertaken with careful forethought, some are undertaken out of necessity after a natural disaster occurs. There have also been a few man-made disasters.
The Chernobyl New Safe Confinement is being built to enclose the #4 reactor that was destroyed in the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
The Fukushima disaster cleanup is ongoing, and includes the removal of spent nuclear fuel stored at the site of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
Cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Exxon Valdez oil spill, and AZF chemical factory explosion were megaprojects.
Storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is designed to prevent a disaster from leaking nuclear waste.
Many hurricanes and typhoons have caused extensive damage and required large cleanup efforts, the largest of which included projects that targeted the damaged infrastructure. The list of costliest Atlantic hurricanes covers the ones in the Atlantic region, including Hurricane Katrina from 2005.
Many earthquakes (and resultant tsunamis) have caused enough damage to infrastructure that enormous projects were undertaken. The 1994 Northridge earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami are some of the most notorious and recent events that led to a megaproject.
Flooding is the cause of many disasters. Some have caused enough damage that a megaproject would be used to recover. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and the 2011 Mississippi River floods are examples.
Volcano eruptions rarely affect major industrial area, but the cleanup and recovery from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in rural Washington State was of megaproject proportions.
The New York City rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks, nearing completion, are the result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center site.
Major restoration was necessary after the destruction caused by World War I and II, some of which was paid for by German reparations for World War I and for World War II.
Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydro-electric facility in the world, China.
China will spend $370 billion in 2015-25 on atomic energy
Kemper Project, or Kemper County Energy Facility, is the world's first Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plant with Carbon Capture & Sequestration. The project is currently under construction, and is expected to open the first half of 2016, nearly two years behind schedule. It is the first IGCC CCS project to have entered into the construction phase.
Boundary Dam Power Station, the world's first large-scale, coal-fired Carbon Capture & Storage plant.
Tres Amigas SuperStation, a superconducting interconnection to connect the Eastern Interconnection to the Western Interconnection and the Texas Interconnection, planned to be completed in 2016. This will effectively connect nearly all electrical grids in North America.
Olkiluoto 3, a nuclear power-plant in Eurajoki, Finland.
Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station, is a project to construct some of the first new nuclear units in the United States in over 30 years, at an existing nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville, South Carolina.
Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, is a project to construct two new nuclear units at an existing nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Georgia.
Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (in work) Long Baseline Neutrino Facility [1]
Atacama Large Millimeter Array
Compact Linear Collider (plan)
Copernicus programme, €8.4 Billion European satellite project for global, total and permanent earth observations.
Envisat, an Earth observation satellite of European Space Agency (2002–2012)
European Extremely Large Telescope, worlds largest optical to mid infrared telescope.
European Spallation Source, strongest ever spallation source for advanced and new material research development.
European x-ray free electron laser, in Germany, plan operating in 2017 and used for material research.
Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research, in Germany (2012–)
Human Genome Project, investigation to determine human genetic sequence (1990-2003) - cost $14.5bn, but generated an output of $965bn, personal income exceeding $293bn and more than 4.3 million job-years of employment
India-based Neutrino Observatory (plan)
International Linear Collider (plan)
ITER International nuclear fusion project, in France (2008-ongoing)
Large Hadron Collider, a 14 TeV CERN particle accelerator, in Switzerland and France (2000-ongoing)
Ocean Networks Canada cabled Observatories. Largest underwater observatories, providing 24/7 access to hundreds of instruments in the Pacific Ocean and the Salish Sea (2005-)
Advanced LIGO, a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect gravitational waves, with total cost more than US$1 billion.
Manhattan Project, in the United States (1945) - 30bn in 2012 dollars
National Ignition Facility, United States nuclear fusion project (1997-ongoing)
Neutrino Factory (plan)
Square Kilometre Array in South Africa
Superconducting Super Collider, canceled 40 TeV particle accelerator in Texas (1991–1993)
Tevatron 1 TeV particle accelerator, in the United States (1983)
Thirty Meter Telescope,
Very Large Array, a radio astronomy observatory in the US
Materials Genome Initiative and advanced manufacturing partnership
Wendelstein 7-X, an experimental stellarator (nuclear fusion reactor) built in Greifswald, Germany.
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion particle physics experiment module that is mounted on the International Space Station (2011– )
Apollo program (1960–1975) - 203.4 bn in 2015 dollars
Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics, a planned X-ray telescope being developed by ESA which will launch in 2028.
Avatar RLV, Indian version of the Space Shuttle, being developed by the DRDO and ISRO.
Buran program, canceled Soviet space shuttle program (1980–1993)
Cassini–Huygens, a joint NASA/ESA/ASI spacecraft mission studying the planet Saturn and its many natural satellites since 2004. The total cost of this project is about $3.26 billion.
Chandrayaan program, a lunar exploration program of ISRO of India.
Compass navigation system, an independent system of satellite navigation by People's Republic of China (Est. 2015–2017)
Constellation program, cancelled planned moon landing spacecraft and space shuttle replacement, part lives on as future Crew Escape Vehicle for ISS (2005–2010)
Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission, an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter and a lander to study Europa moon. (2022-)
Evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, a L3 class mission by ESA designed to detect and accurately measure gravitational waves.
Gaia (spacecraft), an ESA mission to create a 3D map of local Milky Way. ($1 billion)
Galileo (spacecraft), a mission to Jupiter (1989–2003) ($1.5 billion as 2003.)
Galileo Navigation Satellite System, a European Union and European Space Agency global satellite navigation system (Est. 2014)
Global Positioning System, a global satellite navigation system created by the United States Air Force (1994)
GLONASS, the Russian equivalent of GPS (1995)
Herschel Space Observatory, ESA space observatory sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre bands (€1,1 billion)
Hubble Space Telescope
International Space Station, multinational space station in low Earth orbit (1998–), 150bn in 2010 dollars
Interplanetary Transport System, a privately funded spaceflight system capable of enabling human settlements on Mars (2016- )
NAVIC, the Indian equivalent of GPS developed by ISRO.
James Webb Space Telescope (under construction, cost $8.8 billion in 2013)
Juno (spacecraft), a NASA New Frontiers mission to the planet Jupiter (2011– )
Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer, a planned mission to Jupiter (Est. 2022)
Kennedy Space Center, The Main Spaceport in the USA.
Mangalyaan, A Mars mission from ISRO of India. It is the first nation to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt, and the first Asian nation to do so.
Mars Science Laboratory, $2.5 billion
Mars 2020, a Mars rover mission by NASA's Mars Exploration Program with a planned launch in 2020.
Mir, Russian space station (1986–2001)
Orion (spacecraft), a planned spacecraft that is being built by Lockheed Martin for NASA
Planck (spacecraft), an ESA's mission to observing cosmic microwave background
Soviet Moonshot, canceled moon landing program (1962–1969)
Space Launch System, an American Space Shuttle-derived heavy expendable launch vehicle (2011– )
Space Shuttle program (1972–2011) - 203.6 bn in 2015 dollars
Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, a planned wide field infrared space telescope by NASA.
Sports and culture projects
1976 Summer Olympics, Canada, C$1.6 billion total cost
2008 Summer Olympics, China, $40 billion
2012 Summer Olympics, United Kingdom, $15.2 billion
2014 Winter Olympics, Russia, $51 billion
2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil, $16.3 billion
2010 Commonwealth Games, India, $9.7 billion. Most expensive Commonwealth Games ever, held in Delhi, India.
Every Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup in the 21st century has cost more than $1 billion in arenas, hotels etc., usually several billions.
The current Yankee Stadium in New York City cost approximately $2.3 billion.
The four newest National Football League stadiums—MetLife Stadium near New York City, AT&T Stadium in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area, and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis—each cost over US$1 billion. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, set to open in 2017, is also expected to cost over $1 billion. The upcoming Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park, planned to open in 2019, is estimated to cost nearly $2.7 billion.
The only cultural arena known to have exceeded $1 billion is Elbe Philharmonic Hall. Some of the most expensive are Copenhagen Opera House and Philharmonie de Paris, both at $500 million.
Ground transportation systems like roads, tunnels, bridges, terminals, railways, and mass transit systems are often megaprojects. Numerous large airports and terminals used for airborne passenger and cargo transportation are built as megaprojects. Ports, waterways, canals, and the locks that connect them, are frequently major undertakings as well.
United Arab Emirates
Planned cities and urban renewal projects
Infrastructure systems that include electricity, sewer, telecommunications, and transportation. Building cities that include Skyscrapers, housing, etc. requires concrete, steel, glass, and most especially that workers in all the trades to undertaker the massive scale of these megaprojects.
Azerbaijan
Jordan
Kuwait
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Nicaragua Canal
Intracoastal Waterway
Panama Canal
Suez Canal
Delta Works
Zuiderzee Works
South–North Water Transfer Project, water from South to North China. $79 billion spent.
