40 Examples Of Innovative Designs That Turned Infrastructure Into Art

Infrastructure often goes unnoticed in our daily lives. We drive over bridges, pass through tunnels, ride trains, and walk across beautifully designed streets without giving much thought to the incredible engineering and creativity behind them. But every so often, a photo captures just how impressive these human-made structures really are.

A subreddit that is a treasure trove of jaw-dropping images highlights the beauty of design and the brilliance of human problem-solving. From futuristic transit systems to gravity-defying bridges, here are some incredible pieces of infrastructure that showcase humanity’s brilliance.

#1 Boston - Big Dig Before vs. After

Image source: newtoboston2019

#2 Layers

Image source: cnewell420

#3 Wave Pedestrian Bridge - Kyiv, Ukraine

Image source: rockystl

#4 At Nearly 24 Miles Long, The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway In Louisiana Stands As The Longest Continuous Bridge Over Water In The World

Image source: No_Cartoonist9458

#5 Holland, Michigan's Downtown Has Heated Streets And Sidewalks That Melt Snow And Ice

Image source: No_Cartoonist9458 The system utilizes wastewater from a nearby power plant which circulates through 120 miles of plastic piping underneath the pavement. It can melt an inch of snow in an hour even at 20 degrees Fahrenheit... No salt!

#6 Highway Turned Into A Canal In Utrecht, Netherlands

Image source: Extra_Place_1955

#7 Animal Crossing In Bydgoszcz, Poland

Image source: LUXI-PL

#8 Sart Canal Bridge, Belgium... So Surreal, So Serene

Image source: No_Cartoonist9458

#9 Chiba Suspended Monorail, Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Image source: Double-decker_trams

#10 The Monorail In Chiba, In Tokyo's Suburbs

Image source: biwook

#11 Bus Lanes In Essen, Germany

Image source: Cultural_Skin_1276

#12 The Longest Highspeed Rail Line In The World Crossing A Desert. Lanzhou- Xinjiang Railway

Image source: Spoiledsoymilk

#13 Amsterdam Netherlands In 1971 vs. 2020

Image source: frorningboppy

#14 Saale-Elster-Talbrücke, Germany's Longest Railway Bridge And Also Europe's Longest Highspeed-Rail Bridge

Image source: william-isaac

#15 The Age Of Walls Overlooking The Age Of Bridges, Highspeed Train, Beijing, China

Image source: Spoiledsoymilk

#16 Map Of La Plata, Argentina. One Of The Best Planned Cities In The World

Image source: Double0six

#17 Mass Timber Parking In Wendlingen, Germany

Image source: r_sole1

#18 The Monorail In Wuppertal, Germany

Image source: EdgeApprehensive211

#19 Bridge In The Netherlands

Image source: tijelu

#20 The Bike Lane In Downtown Seattle

Image source: Mobile_Millennial

#21 Infrastructure That Never Was : The City Of Cincinnati Started To Build A Rapid Transit System In The 1920s But Only Completed Seven Miles Of Subway Lines Before The Project Was Abandoned

Image source: No_Cartoonist9458

#22 Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge, China

Image source: straightdge

#23 Turning Off Niagara Falls For The First Time In 12,000 Years 1969

Image source: No_Cartoonist9458

#24 This Is What A Highspeed Rail Line Cutting Through A Plateau Looks Like, Ningxia Province, China

Image source: Nervous_Plan_8370

#25 Dutch Roundabout With Center Bus Lane

Image source: Minute_Play1196

#26 Nouvelle Route Du Littoral, Most Expensive Road Of The World In Réunion Island, France

Image source: AggressiveShoulder83

#27 London Sanitation Engineers Overseeing New Sewer Construction Following The Great Stink Of 1858

Image source: biwook

#28 Favourite Airport Layout/Design? Midway Airport, Chicago

Image source: No-Significance-1023

#29 The Marenostrum Supercomputer

Image source: r_sole1

#30 Shonan Monorail, Near Tokyo, Japan

Image source: biwook

#31 Nanjing South Railway Station

Image source: straightdge

#32 Herzegovina Bridge, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Image source: UselessBot_

#33 Five Way Streetcar Junction Being Built In Toronto, 1923

Image source: rounding_error

#34 The New Gordie Howe Bridge Progresses Across The Detroit River

Image source: innsertnamehere

#35 Tokyo Monrail

Image source: tannerge

#36 Anji Khad Bridge- India's First Cable-Stayed Railway Bridge

Image source: 165Hertz

#37 Takaosan Highway Interchange, Tokyo

Image source: biwook

#38 Łódź, Poland

Image source: Rift3N

#39 Retro-Future Infrastructure: A 1913 Vision Of A Five-Storied, Six Level Super Street In New York, With The Claim That It Would 'Increase The Efficiency Of Business Traffic By 25 Percent

Image source: No_Cartoonist9458

#40 Earthquake In Japan Raises The Manhole Above Ground

Image source: Saturn_Ecplise