Scotland's network of "Old Military Roads". Built in the 1700s in an attempt to tame the Highlands, mostly used by hikers and mountain bikers these days but some routes are still used today as main roads.
I was in High School while the Pipeline was being built. Many teachers quit to go and work on the pipeline. Someone working in the Laundry facility of one of the camps made more than they did teaching. Most workers were on 2 weeks on 2 weeks off shifts. So if you could you found someone with the opposite shift and the two of you got an apartment in Hawaii. There was a direct flight from Fairbanks to Honolulu at the time.
That story is indicative of the iron ore industry here in Western Australia. At the height of the boom, dishwashers in camps made more than teachers and their principals.
@@milk-it It is like that for the few working out in the Oil Patch here in Northern Alberta. Boom ended in 2012/2013 sadly. 12+ hour days 7 days a week and minimum wage is $20. You don't pay for anything, no rent food or electricity. You gotta provide your own entertainment if your staying in camp. I mean yeah most workers were 2 on 2 off, but you also had the choice (depending if your a contractor or working for one) to work the entire month straight no questions asked.
The Mackinaw Bridge in Michigan. Suspension bridge which joined two peninsula’s of the same state which, up until that time, were only reachable by ferry or driving around Lake Michigan.
I’m from Saginaw Michigan, and I totally agree, if you have seen the great Mackinaw Bridge, it is truly amazing, with camping available in Mackinaw City, right at the base of the lower, walking the beach towards the bridge you really get a sense of how huge the bridge is, and a beautiful backdrop to family photos on the beach !!! 😎
which side, allies or russian? because both sides captured Berlin and there was a lot of communication with the resistance that actually made the job oh so much easier than combatting a completely hostile country.
@@SkashTheKitsune Er, no. Both sides did not capture Berlin, and the German Resistance had been decimated after July 20th, 1944. It was essentially irrelevant to the Soviet conquest of Berlin.
Good job. I would liked to have seen a little more about how it was designed to meet various challenges. I was fascinated by seeing the pipeline when visiting Fairbanks and hearing about the design challenges related to permafrost (which you briefly mentioned), crossing mountain passes, and why certain designs were selected for certain sections.
Yeah, it kind of surprised me he didn't talk about the interesting way the pipeline is protected from earthquakes. It is actually built on steel skis in many places so that when an earthquake hits, it will just slide the pipeline around without damage. That happened a few years back when there was a big earthquake near Fairbanks it moved certain sections of the pipeline by 20 feet but did no damage at all.
I started working in construction back in the late 70’s.. Every job I worked at had veterans of working on the pipeline. I ended up working in Pruhdoe Bay a few years later. Great job telling the story of the pipeline!
Had a friend who lived in Alaska during the building of the pipeline. The most common bumpersticker at the time was "Happiness is a Texan headed south with an Okie under each arm." Also the pipeline was built because it was calculated by shipping oil around S. Am. and having it refined in Boston. Most of the oil was originally sold to Japan.
I went to Texas because the contractor I worked for had a project there. The bumper stickers were welcome to Texas now go home. The best view of Texas I ever got was in my rearview mirror. Rude people, terrible crooked cops and everything cooked in Mesquite smoke. Tuck Fexas
Carabao is a Cebuano Vasayan (Austronesian) name for quite a different beast: a domestic swamp-type water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) native to the Philippines. Carabao (Thai: คาราบาว) is also the name of a Thai rock band, very popular in Thailand and other Asian countries. Carabao the band was formed in 1981.
*Anyone else here because of playing the Video Game "SnowRunner" & building the Oil Pipelines in Pedro Bay, which Simon talks about in this video? It's super dope to watch this while playing a game where you literally drive trucks & build the PIPELINE that this video is talking about... SnowRunner is one of the best off road truck games out there, even though that's NOT really saying much because there are BARELY ANY video games that are actual "Off Road Truck" games like "SnowRunner" & the other games that are made by the same company, like "MudRunner", which is their 2nd game... The OG game, "SpinTires", is their first game, which for some reason isn't sold anymore and its pretty much a collector's item now, that introduced everyone to a GREAT "Off Road" driving game where it had REALISTIC FEATURES, like the environment being torn up by always driving the same path, a decently realistic suspension system for the trucks & pretty decent physics, especially when you are hauling heavy loads & logs... It was more of a "Sandbox" type game where you just drive around the maps and move a few things... BUT "SnowRunner" added a really good "Mission &/or Quest System", where there would be "Task Givers" and big oil companies like Oil Companies that gives you "Contracts" to work for them & on the Alaskan Map, you work for a oil company that is building & fixing pipelines around Pedro Bay.*
@@brandenpost7830 I used to go hunting on family land out near Caldwell and dexter city area as a kid and I remember being amazed at the shear enormity of the bucket.
You should do a video on the Little Big Inch Pipeline. It was built during WWII from Texas to New Jersey (over 1,200 miles) so that German U-boats would stop sinking American tankers transporting oil along the coast. It was the biggest pipeline constructed at the time. Not to mention it was built in less than a year.
Yes, talking about a generational mind blowing event! It was something out of science fiction finally made real. Like when I was a kid and saw rockets land like that in cartoons and quirky ET movies it was comical, then we had the space shuttle that "made sense" (but being a government project was never going to work economically), but the Space X landings are like my childhood science fiction movies coming to life!
During the 1970's the oil was needed in the midwest, not Valdez. It made much more sense to have the pipeline go though Canada and connect to existing pipelines that would take the oil where it was needed. Obviously, few wanted to have to cut Canada in on this financial and labor bonanza, so the oil went instead to Valdez, where a lot of it was shipped WEST to Asia. A guy who was in charge of the Wisconsin Energy Office, Charles J. Cicchetti, quit when this decision was made.
Have you done one on the Deep Tunnel project in Chicago? HUGE storm water system that can hold rainwater from almost the entire Chicago metro area. Billions of gallons and over a hundred miles to keep wastewater from flowing into Lake Michigan.
I worked in the North Dakota oil fields for years and the coldest night I remember was -72 Farenheight with the wind chill. I cant imagine how chilly it is up in Alaska
I always wondered when this was going to be done. I worked doing communications on this pipeline for 15 years mostly north of Fairbanks. When I worked doing communications the companies I worked for made us sign non disclosure agreements on many things so I just sit back and watch.
The unwritten armrest law states - the middle seat gets both armrests, the outer seats forfeit the middle armrests by having access to either the window or aisle. Regular flyers quickly understand these rules.
@@Louis_Davout the seats recline so people can recline them. Sure when meals are being served it’s only fair you put your seat up. If you don’t like it any other time, buy business class. If you can’t afford business class, don’t complain.
FINALLY!!!!!! thank you for making this video. However some of your figures are off on the temperature, -45f without windchill, -80f with the windchill and up to 80f during the summer. Along with the census report, no one permanently lives on the slope, it’s only workers up here, that work rotation schedules. The census area includes the villages that are outside of the oil fields.
I agree with Soo Locks. As a resident of Michigan I also believe the Mackinac Bridge would be a great topic. It really was a MegaProject. Changed the economy of the state as well as overcoming many engineering challenges.
In the Seventies, if you or someone you knew wasn't working on that project, you couldn't call yourself Working Class. Valdez is an amazing spot and the ferry ride to it, spectacular.
Suggestion for a Megaproject: Prora in Germany. Prora was a 5 Kilometer! long (Strengh through joy = Kraft furch Freude) Hotel- building near the coast of the Baltic sea. Build by the Naz*S used by the GDR.
I recall driving thru the southern pipe storage yard prior to actual construction. for miles, as far as one can see in both directions were rows upon rows of stacks of pipes. it was amazing.
This was super cool to see! I'm currently working at pump station 4 as a baseline laborer, and somtimes it's easy to loose view of just how large the pipeline is.
The problems Fairbanks had is nothing like Chicago, Portland, NY City, Seattle, L.A., San Francisco and so on have right now.... Another great watch from Simon.
One of the hysterias by the ecologists was the impact on the caribou. It turns out herds increased dramatically due to the warmth, as noted, the pipeline emits providing the herds with a source of heating during winter time.
@Bro Scientist If only Jack hadn't been killed....Bobbie....Teddie....why? Who'll show us the way? I know there's a mayor from So. Bend-IN yes he can be the one ... better just rig the election for the demoncrat con man and his unindicted perv sonny boy....I give you state control of your lives!
LMFAO you really want to argue the gas and oil industry is 'good' for wildlife? Pathetic, time to ban fosil fuel quickly so idiots stop killing my grandchildren even before they are born.
@@MarvinWestmaas Gosh and then what did your 'college professor' tell you will work? 'Ocean waves? Solar Panels that work but require massive subsidies? Windmills that kill migrating birds? I know 'horses! right? Not right....ah come on lover of Buttigeg share with us how 'covid is the reason they're rioting in Cuba'....that's what they hack affirmative female press flunkie for the corrupt guy who stole the lection said.
@@rusoviettovarich9221 Dah tovarisch have some more vodka you seem to have a tolerance where you don't pass out but where you're still deep in a delirium.
@@MarvinWestmaas Ach .... I'll take the blue pill and then I'll swear we're all going to die unless we all stop using gasoline engines oh yeah and if we get cold we'll put on more sweaters courtesy of a poor lamb we sheared and then ate because that way we won't use any natural gas.....man Tuesday 8th November 2022 come to momma! Hey I know 'Beto's' the answer!
The zig-zag of the pipe also helps the pipe flex without shearing in the event of an earthquake. My father was geotechnical supervisor during construction and engineer/ maintenance supervisor for first 25 years of operations...
Megaproject recommendation...NAS-National Airspace System, which includes all the towers, radar sites, radio towers, GPS constellation, all the ARTCC sites (artcc-air route traffic control centers), approach and departure control sites, and the VOR-MON which is the minimum operational network for the vor's (navigational aid). Am I forgetting anything? Oh and that's just the United States. This was a good video. Definitely a Megaproject.
My great uncle worked on the Alaskan pipeline, we have his fur hooded parka from when he worked on it. Tag says “alyeska”, it goes down to my knees and was standard issue equipment according to an article I just found. I remember the story was that the pipe was big enough to drive a car through, and he had a piece of the piping cut into the shape of Alaska as a trinket but it was lost to time.
@@branon6565 Here we go. So, I suffer from Asthma like so many kids born in my generation. Why? Well, oil companies put lead in their petrol to save money and make themselves look competent. Did they know it was an awful thing to do? Yes Did they do it anyway? Yes Millions of kids. Tens of Thousands dead. And what happened? When they got caught, they sold us “unleaded petrol”. Of course they had spent billions making us believe they weren’t responsible. With this in mind, the paper that started the entire anti-renewables craziness was paid for by an oil company and included a dozen scientists paid by oil companies. To convince you to keep buying petrol. Are you seeing how you’ve been played yet?
@@kevmccarthy8311 I was born in 1961 and grew up while leaded gas was still sold. A greater percentage of Kids have asthma now then when leaded gas was sold. Lead levels in blood drawn from Red Cross donors had dropped 51% ten years after the final ban. Yet there is a higher percentage of kids with asthma. Everybody is happy to see lead gone, but asthma has other causes besides lead.
@@branon6565 You know what is a scam? The petrodollar. It would be ridiculous if it weren't so insidious. You'll see. Decentralized Renewable energy will be superior to centralized fossil fuels in every way. Global power structures that will evolve from cheap abundant local power will be world changing. These endless wars for geopolitical resource security are not necessary. Peace and harmony bro.
The engineer behind that bridge designed the st John's bridge in Portland the only suspension bridge across the Willamette and the namesake for cathedral park.
I would really like to see a video on the West Desert Pumping Project that was done to control flooding on the Great Salt Lake in Utah Due to extremely wet weather, the lake had tripled in surface area over a few years and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, to the point where they were afraid they would completely lose the nearby Interstate and were considering shutting down the airport because the runway drains were backing up. So, in less than a year, they built huge stations to pump water out of the lake and into the west desert where it could evaporate without causing damage. And best of all? The project was hugely successful.
I live in Fairbanks, I think you did a good job with this video. Pipeline is still running smoothly today. 1/2 the oil flow And I think only 5 pumping stations
They just flat earthed PS 10. Only Pump Stations 1, 3,4 and 9 actually pump oil. PS 5 doesn’t have mainline pumps. It was built to store the surge of pressure coming off Atigun during a pipeline shutdown.
Cool video idea: Eratosthenes and measuring the circumference of the earth over 2,200 years ago. Such a great story and one that's just impressive considering the lack of tools and technology involved. Love the videos Simon, your output is just as impressive!
DO: Louisiana Offshore Oil Port a deepwater port in the Gulf of Mexico 29 kilometers (18 nautical miles)[1] off the coast of Louisiana near the town of Port Fourchon. LOOP provides tanker offloading and temporary storage services for crude oil transported on some of the largest tankers in the world. Most tankers offloading at LOOP are too large for U.S. inland ports. LOOP handles 13 percent of the nation's foreign oil, about 1.2 million barrels (190,000 m3) a day, and connects by pipeline to 50 percent of the U.S. refining capability.
The draining of ‘The Fens’. Helmed by the Dutch after they mastered the art of land reclamation. To bring the topic upto the present… The Future Fens flood risk management is a huge mega project expected to need 1.8 billion pounds invested over the next 100 years to sustain the current standard of service from the existing flood risk management assets. ‘The Fens’ hold a large percentage of the UK Grade 1 agricultural land. Without the investment the fens will likely suffer a catastrophic flood and uk fresh food supply would be damaged beyond recognition.
I am an IBEW electrician who has worked extensively on the TAPS line. The production off the North Slope due to low oil prices since roughly 2008 is a fraction of what it was in 79. That and the ANWAR ban on development means thats pretty much a wrap on the line. Nice while it lasted but Fracking has led to much more accesible oil down South. Closer to refineries on the gulf coast. Alaskas budget has been in complete free fall since it relied HEAVILY on the taxes off the line to support itself
@@josephhawkins5750 Be glad you finally have a president who doesn't think science doesn't know, the world is now pointing and laughing at you guys a lot less. Accusations about illiteracy from someone who cries about the big lie, the irony is delicious. Thanks for the entertainment!
For this channel I would love to see videos on the space shuttle, and some of the giant railroad locomotives from us railroads like Union Pacific or Penn Central, both had the world's largest steam, diesel and gas-turbine locomotives
I am 63 and my father was 36 running all the surveying on the north. Section I went up there at 12 years old We flew around in helicopters I got to see alot of it being built I will never forget the shock of moving there in about 1972 I have all of his memorabilia from the job He died from liver cancer about 12 years ago His name was Jack Brady Aka Yukon Jack He knew everybody They may not have liked him but they respected him
10:45 You state footings are 700 to 1800 feet apart. Gut check: 1800 feet is over a third of a mile..... 120,000 thermosyphons used. 2 per footing. 800 mile long pipeline. Average spacing between footings is actually (800*5280) / 60,000 = 70 feet between footings.
Mispronounced words: Valdez, caribou, Spiro, but you got Unipiaq right. Other mistakes: the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend was based on a 3-year moving average return of the fund, not the profits from the oil (it's a politcal football now). The oil profits either fund state government or go into the fund. The Permanent Fund currently has around $80b in it. There is no such thing as a 338 caliber rifle. It was probably a .338. ANCSA would make a interesting topic for this or another one of your shows. It's the only instance of creating corporations for indigenous people, rather than tribes and reservations. They have been amazingly successful.
My grandfather worked on this pipeline. He moved up there with my grandma while he was doing it before becoming a full time union man back in Los Angeles.
My grandfather was a plumber, and he worked on the Alaska Pipeline in the mid 70's. I think my parents still have a sculpture made of iron of the state of Alaska, with a welded line on it depicting the pipeline. Anyway, I thought it was cool that he worked on the pipeline, but then my parents said that he was one of the senior workers in the plumbing union, and all he actually did was sit in a warehouse hand out tools to other plumbers. He got paid $20 an hour from what I remember, which is not a bad wage today but was a ridiculous wage in the mid 70's.
Suggestions: Basil II, John Smith [Labour leader who died too young], Brian May [Queen guitarists/physicist], and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg all on Biographics.
Electric ground transport wipes out more than half of oil usage, so that's going to pinch profits pretty badly. Most fertilizer is from natural gas because it's easy to nab hydrogen from there. If we can work out how to create a lot of green hydrogen relatively cheaply, we won't need natural gas to make fertilizer, just water and lots of sun and wind.
Can you do an episode on plastics, their history, their production (being a bi-product of the oil industry) and the process of recycling , the potential pit falls and the enviormental impact for recycling plastics. eg lots of chemicals used in recycling and waste produced, the products crated and its lack of industrial adoption. Surely the GREATEST MEGA PROJECT EVER INVESTIGATED! Referencing the North Atlantic gargage patch This estimated to be hundreds of kilometers across , with a density of more than 200,000 pieces of per square kilometer (one piece per five square metres, on average)
TauTona and Mponeng gold mines in South Africa.. That's the deepest humans have ever been underground, a marvel of engineering and true megaprojects!
Cool idea
@@lordfrostdraken It's really very hot down there!
@@jimurrata6785 That's why us south Africans have air-conditioning down there
@@janrabie1890 I know you must!
My childish reply was to _"Cool idea!"_
practical engineering has done a great video on this.
Scotland's network of "Old Military Roads". Built in the 1700s in an attempt to tame the Highlands, mostly used by hikers and mountain bikers these days but some routes are still used today as main roads.
Would be interesting to hear about Scotland and its recent history like the the last couple hundred years 🏴
I was in High School while the Pipeline was being built. Many teachers quit to go and work on the pipeline. Someone working in the Laundry facility of one of the camps made more than they did teaching. Most workers were on 2 weeks on 2 weeks off shifts. So if you could you found someone with the opposite shift and the two of you got an apartment in Hawaii. There was a direct flight from Fairbanks to Honolulu at the time.
That story is indicative of the iron ore industry here in Western Australia. At the height of the boom, dishwashers in camps made more than teachers and their principals.
@@milk-it It is like that for the few working out in the Oil Patch here in Northern Alberta. Boom ended in 2012/2013 sadly.
12+ hour days 7 days a week and minimum wage is $20. You don't pay for anything, no rent food or electricity. You gotta provide your own entertainment if your staying in camp.
I mean yeah most workers were 2 on 2 off, but you also had the choice (depending if your a contractor or working for one) to work the entire month straight no questions asked.
People where I live would've benefited greatly from the Keystone pipeline in the form of jobs. Then came Biden and his executive order fetish. 🤷🏼♂️
they even let high school end earlier so the working students could go to their shift
Do one on the British Antarctic station (the one on skis)
The one on WHAT
@@OccupiedMuffins mate it’s like these big modules that r on skis so they can break it all apart and move it when the ice shelf starts cracking
The Mackinaw Bridge in Michigan. Suspension bridge which joined two peninsula’s of the same state which, up until that time, were only reachable by ferry or driving around Lake Michigan.
Largest in the Western Hemisphere.
@@spacepeanut8993 no it’s not. Verrazano Narrows is
I’m from Saginaw Michigan, and I totally agree, if you have seen the great Mackinaw Bridge, it is truly amazing, with camping available in Mackinaw City, right at the base of the lower, walking the beach towards the bridge you really get a sense of how huge the bridge is, and a beautiful backdrop to family photos on the beach !!! 😎
The upcoming Landbased MEGA Telescopes, especially the Vera Rubin Observatory, or the Giant Magellan Telescope.
upvotes fellow space nerds!!!
I’m sure Magellan TV would be happy to sponsor the second one ;)
Can I upvote the telescope suggestion? lol
Agreed
A couple of suggestions: Gateway Arch (St. Louis), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Sideprojects has videos featuring both. ua-cam.com/video/9UmJDqs-P5s/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/BGeJo-bdBf0/v-deo.html
T.V.A. "Time Variants Authority" (LOKI)
Could you cover the operation to capture Berlin in WW2? The logistics for that were insane.
which side, allies or russian? because both sides captured Berlin and there was a lot of communication with the resistance that actually made the job oh so much easier than combatting a completely hostile country.
@@SkashTheKitsune The Soviets
@@SkashTheKitsune Er, no. Both sides did not capture Berlin, and the German Resistance had been decimated after July 20th, 1944. It was essentially irrelevant to the Soviet conquest of Berlin.
If not the capture, then the Berlin Airlift
@@havokvladimirovichstalinov Good choice! My dad was involved in that as ground crew.
Good job. I would liked to have seen a little more about how it was designed to meet various challenges. I was fascinated by seeing the pipeline when visiting Fairbanks and hearing about the design challenges related to permafrost (which you briefly mentioned), crossing mountain passes, and why certain designs were selected for certain sections.
Yeah, it kind of surprised me he didn't talk about the interesting way the pipeline is protected from earthquakes. It is actually built on steel skis in many places so that when an earthquake hits, it will just slide the pipeline around without damage. That happened a few years back when there was a big earthquake near Fairbanks it moved certain sections of the pipeline by 20 feet but did no damage at all.
The Rideau Canal system! I have gotten lots of up votes and you agreed multiple times!
I started working in construction back in the late 70’s.. Every job I worked at had veterans of working on the pipeline. I ended up working in Pruhdoe Bay a few years later. Great job telling the story of the pipeline!
The Soo Locks in Michigan is definitely a Megaproject.
That or the Mackinac Bridge. I live in the UP so. Mighty Mac is the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere
@@FreshwaterNautical You're right! Post a comment! -👍 from your mitten shaped lower peninsula.
@@spacepeanut8993 be nice to us trolls, we had to fight Ohio to get you.
Crossed into Canada by the locks, gorgeous area and amazing engineering
@@FreshwaterNautical agree she is a beauty
Could you cover the RAFs Bouncing Bombs and their mission: Operation Chastise? Crazy specialized military hardware is right up your alley
Had a friend who lived in Alaska during the building of the pipeline. The most common bumpersticker at the time was "Happiness is a Texan headed south with an Okie under each arm."
Also the pipeline was built because it was calculated by shipping oil around S. Am. and having it refined in Boston. Most of the oil was originally sold to Japan.
I went to Texas because the contractor I worked for had a project there. The bumper stickers were welcome to Texas now go home. The best view of Texas I ever got was in my rearview mirror. Rude people, terrible crooked cops and everything cooked in Mesquite smoke. Tuck Fexas
"Caribou" rhymes with "voodoo" not "meow".
I read the comment first and waited 8:49 just hear it!
Carabao is a Cebuano Vasayan (Austronesian) name for quite a different beast: a domestic swamp-type water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) native to the Philippines.
Carabao (Thai: คาราบาว) is also the name of a Thai rock band, very popular in Thailand and other Asian countries. Carabao the band was formed in 1981.
Be nice. After all, English is Simon's second language. :)
@@DrB1900 he was born and raised in England, so I'm pretty sure English is his first language. :-)
*Anyone else here because of playing the Video Game "SnowRunner" & building the Oil Pipelines in Pedro Bay, which Simon talks about in this video? It's super dope to watch this while playing a game where you literally drive trucks & build the PIPELINE that this video is talking about... SnowRunner is one of the best off road truck games out there, even though that's NOT really saying much because there are BARELY ANY video games that are actual "Off Road Truck" games like "SnowRunner" & the other games that are made by the same company, like "MudRunner", which is their 2nd game... The OG game, "SpinTires", is their first game, which for some reason isn't sold anymore and its pretty much a collector's item now, that introduced everyone to a GREAT "Off Road" driving game where it had REALISTIC FEATURES, like the environment being torn up by always driving the same path, a decently realistic suspension system for the trucks & pretty decent physics, especially when you are hauling heavy loads & logs... It was more of a "Sandbox" type game where you just drive around the maps and move a few things... BUT "SnowRunner" added a really good "Mission &/or Quest System", where there would be "Task Givers" and big oil companies like Oil Companies that gives you "Contracts" to work for them & on the Alaskan Map, you work for a oil company that is building & fixing pipelines around Pedro Bay.*
Suggestion: Martin Mars Water Bombers.
largest planes built for WWII. Still used today (occasionally) for forest fires.
I feel like Simon's writers are the kind of people who nailed their high school research papers they had to write
But hated the presentation 🤣
Should make a video on the largest drag line excavator "Big Muskie"
I was going to post that myself! Love all the BIG diggers!
The bucket of that beast is only short drive from where I live
@@brandenpost7830 I used to go hunting on family land out near Caldwell and dexter city area as a kid and I remember being amazed at the shear enormity of the bucket.
Or the badger 288! I was de-meated by that massive steel leviathan
@@jayyydizzzle Oh man, I kind of forgot about that video, time to re-watch it :D
1:55 - Chapter 1 - Alaskan oil
4:15 - Chapter 2 - The prudhoe bay oil field
6:10 - Chapter 3 - Alyeska pipeline service company
7:35 - Chapter 4 - Fierce opposition
10:15 - Chapter 5 - Construction
11:50 - Chapter 6 - Effects
13:10 - Chapter 7 - Incidents on the line
14:25 - Chapter 8 - The line today
16:00 - Chapter 9 - The future
- Chapter 10 -
You should do a video on the Little Big Inch Pipeline. It was built during WWII from Texas to New Jersey (over 1,200 miles) so that German U-boats would stop sinking American tankers transporting oil along the coast. It was the biggest pipeline constructed at the time. Not to mention it was built in less than a year.
Yay! I suggested this topic awhile back.
Thank you Simon & Co.!🤗
New MegaProject episode: Your beard.
You should do a mega project on spaceX landing the first reusable rockets
Yes! I second this.
Yes, talking about a generational mind blowing event! It was something out of science fiction finally made real. Like when I was a kid and saw rockets land like that in cartoons and quirky ET movies it was comical, then we had the space shuttle that "made sense" (but being a government project was never going to work economically), but the Space X landings are like my childhood science fiction movies coming to life!
True. But covered very well by Scott Manley and Everyday Astronaut
Paul Cooper As if you can have too many videos about SpaceX mate
@@ArnoldSig ha ha - true. very true!
Ok, so now we need a video on the Teapot Dome Scandal.
During the 1970's the oil was needed in the midwest, not Valdez. It made much more sense to have the pipeline go though Canada and connect to existing pipelines that would take the oil where it was needed. Obviously, few wanted to have to cut Canada in on this financial and labor bonanza, so the oil went instead to Valdez, where a lot of it was shipped WEST to Asia. A guy who was in charge of the Wisconsin Energy Office, Charles J. Cicchetti, quit when this decision was made.
Have you done one on the Deep Tunnel project in Chicago? HUGE storm water system that can hold rainwater from almost the entire Chicago metro area. Billions of gallons and over a hundred miles to keep wastewater from flowing into Lake Michigan.
Suggestion: "The Kimberly Hole: Turning a Mountain into a Crater"
I worked in the North Dakota oil fields for years and the coldest night I remember was -72 Farenheight with the wind chill. I cant imagine how chilly it is up in Alaska
Sweet i asked for this like 3 times and you did it.
I always wondered when this was going to be done. I worked doing communications on this pipeline for 15 years mostly north of Fairbanks. When I worked doing communications the companies I worked for made us sign non disclosure agreements on many things so I just sit back and watch.
The unwritten armrest law states - the middle seat gets both armrests, the outer seats forfeit the middle armrests by having access to either the window or aisle. Regular flyers quickly understand these rules.
When did it become socially unacceptable to stab people who hog the armrests?
And don't recline your seat! Nothing worse than somebody who thinks they deserve to be in your lap...
@@Louis_Davout the seats recline so people can recline them. Sure when meals are being served it’s only fair you put your seat up. If you don’t like it any other time, buy business class. If you can’t afford business class, don’t complain.
@@jackimo22
Don't complain...Gotcha, Chief... If you want to sit in my lap, BOTH of us will have an extremely uncomfortable trip... Just saying...
FINALLY!!!!!! thank you for making this video. However some of your figures are off on the temperature, -45f without windchill, -80f with the windchill and up to 80f during the summer. Along with the census report, no one permanently lives on the slope, it’s only workers up here, that work rotation schedules. The census area includes the villages that are outside of the oil fields.
Simon, if you see this. My man do us as favor and do a video on Erwin Rommel and his Atlantic Wall ✌
I agree with Soo Locks. As a resident of Michigan I also believe the Mackinac Bridge would be a great topic. It really was a MegaProject. Changed the economy of the state as well as overcoming many engineering challenges.
Can you do one on the mining town in Northern Russia called Norilsk?
Built by Gulag prisoners in the 30s & 40s
Allegedly
Whether on this channel or another, could you do a video on cities that never rebuild from natural disaster or war?
Thanks! I've been suggesting this for awhile. How about a video about the Alaska Highway?
The 49/49 split was in the Senate, and the bill was then sent to the House of Representatives for approval. The house has 435 members.
I used to watch your videos in the past and now I came back to see you with a glorious beard.
In the Seventies, if you or someone you knew wasn't working on that project, you couldn't call yourself Working Class. Valdez is an amazing spot and the ferry ride to it, spectacular.
Suggestion for a Megaproject: Prora in Germany. Prora was a 5 Kilometer! long (Strengh through joy = Kraft furch Freude) Hotel- building near the coast of the Baltic sea. Build by the Naz*S used by the GDR.
An interesting follow up would be the cleanup of Exxon Valdez oil spill.
I will not give up I will keep recommending it none of the aircraft you've done a video compare to the awesome power A-10 Thunderbolt II
I recall driving thru the southern pipe storage yard prior to actual construction. for miles, as far as one can see in both directions were rows upon rows of stacks of pipes. it was amazing.
“OMG Becky, look at that antenna…”
I live near Jim Creek Naval Radio Station in Snohomish Co, WA. Would be a fascinating feat to see here.
Thank you so much for making a video about my state!!! I've been watching your show for years and years, So this is pretty awesome!! 😎🌞🙂
This was super cool to see! I'm currently working at pump station 4 as a baseline laborer, and somtimes it's easy to loose view of just how large the pipeline is.
The problems Fairbanks had is nothing like Chicago, Portland, NY City, Seattle, L.A., San Francisco and so on have right now.... Another great watch from Simon.
One of the hysterias by the ecologists was the impact on the caribou. It turns out herds increased dramatically due to the warmth, as noted, the pipeline emits providing the herds with a source of heating during winter time.
@Bro Scientist If only Jack hadn't been killed....Bobbie....Teddie....why? Who'll show us the way? I know there's a mayor from So. Bend-IN yes he can be the one ... better just rig the election for the demoncrat con man and his unindicted perv sonny boy....I give you state control of your lives!
LMFAO you really want to argue the gas and oil industry is 'good' for wildlife? Pathetic, time to ban fosil fuel quickly so idiots stop killing my grandchildren even before they are born.
@@MarvinWestmaas Gosh and then what did your 'college professor' tell you will work? 'Ocean waves? Solar Panels that work but require massive subsidies? Windmills that kill migrating birds? I know 'horses! right? Not right....ah come on lover of Buttigeg share with us how 'covid is the reason they're rioting in Cuba'....that's what they hack affirmative female press flunkie for the corrupt guy who stole the lection said.
@@rusoviettovarich9221 Dah tovarisch have some more vodka you seem to have a tolerance where you don't pass out but where you're still deep in a delirium.
@@MarvinWestmaas Ach .... I'll take the blue pill and then I'll swear we're all going to die unless we all stop using gasoline engines oh yeah and if we get cold we'll put on more sweaters courtesy of a poor lamb we sheared and then ate because that way we won't use any natural gas.....man Tuesday 8th November 2022 come to momma! Hey I know 'Beto's' the answer!
The Grand Coulee Damn in Washington state and the Columbia River are interesting . I'm addicted to your channels. Thanks.
The zig-zag of the pipe also helps the pipe flex without shearing in the event of an earthquake. My father was geotechnical supervisor during construction and engineer/ maintenance supervisor for first 25 years of operations...
The US Army had to deal with permafrost when they were building the Alcan.
Here in East Europe we call all alcoholics - Alcan
Yes, one of the first, an early modern megaproject.
And we still deal with it just to dig a shit house. 😂
Megaproject recommendation...NAS-National Airspace System, which includes all the towers, radar sites, radio towers, GPS constellation, all the ARTCC sites (artcc-air route traffic control centers), approach and departure control sites, and the VOR-MON which is the minimum operational network for the vor's (navigational aid). Am I forgetting anything? Oh and that's just the United States.
This was a good video. Definitely a Megaproject.
My great uncle worked on the Alaskan pipeline, we have his fur hooded parka from when he worked on it. Tag says “alyeska”, it goes down to my knees and was standard issue equipment according to an article I just found. I remember the story was that the pipe was big enough to drive a car through, and he had a piece of the piping cut into the shape of Alaska as a trinket but it was lost to time.
Still waiting for the Newport News Shipyard Video, maybe pair that with the Norfolk Vanal Base and the ships that have been built there
The shot at 8:57 of Pioneer Peak mountain, was taken just off the road that I take every day to work. Love that mountain.
Your content becomes better and better with each video keep it up man
I went to AK in I believe 2002 and stood below the pipeline. Can’t wait to see that beautiful land again
My grandfather worked up in Alaska to build the pipeline. He made a small model of Alaska from some of the scrap of metal used to build the pipeline.
Can you do one on the electrical grid and the plans for a 100% clean energy smart grid.
No such thing as 100% "clean" energy, that whole "go green" thing is a ridiculous sham....
@@branon6565 Here we go.
So, I suffer from Asthma like so many kids born in my generation. Why? Well, oil companies put lead in their petrol to save money and make themselves look competent.
Did they know it was an awful thing to do? Yes
Did they do it anyway? Yes
Millions of kids. Tens of Thousands dead. And what happened? When they got caught, they sold us “unleaded petrol”. Of course they had spent billions making us believe they weren’t responsible.
With this in mind, the paper that started the entire anti-renewables craziness was paid for by an oil company and included a dozen scientists paid by oil companies. To convince you to keep buying petrol.
Are you seeing how you’ve been played yet?
Nuclear power and hydroelectric dams, they did it already.
@@kevmccarthy8311 I was born in 1961 and grew up while leaded gas was still sold. A greater percentage of Kids have asthma now then when leaded gas was sold. Lead levels in blood drawn from Red Cross donors had dropped 51% ten years after the final ban. Yet there is a higher percentage of kids with asthma. Everybody is happy to see lead gone, but asthma has other causes besides lead.
@@branon6565 You know what is a scam? The petrodollar. It would be ridiculous if it weren't so insidious.
You'll see. Decentralized Renewable energy will be superior to centralized fossil fuels in every way. Global power structures that will evolve from cheap abundant local power will be world changing.
These endless wars for geopolitical resource security are not necessary.
Peace and harmony bro.
How about the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere the Mackinaw Bridge
Building this bridge would be a great topic!
The engineer behind that bridge designed the st John's bridge in Portland the only suspension bridge across the Willamette and the namesake for cathedral park.
I like how the construction start 10:20. Shows that a significant part of a mega project is actually not the construction but the planning&politics.
Roman Coliseum would be awesome 👌😎 keep up the great content one love
I would really like to see a video on the West Desert Pumping Project that was done to control flooding on the Great Salt Lake in Utah
Due to extremely wet weather, the lake had tripled in surface area over a few years and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, to the point where they were afraid they would completely lose the nearby Interstate and were considering shutting down the airport because the runway drains were backing up. So, in less than a year, they built huge stations to pump water out of the lake and into the west desert where it could evaporate without causing damage.
And best of all? The project was hugely successful.
I live in Fairbanks, I think you did a good job with this video.
Pipeline is still running smoothly today.
1/2 the oil flow
And I think only 5 pumping stations
They just flat earthed PS 10. Only Pump Stations 1, 3,4 and 9 actually pump oil. PS 5 doesn’t have mainline pumps. It was built to store the surge of pressure coming off Atigun during a pipeline shutdown.
Hey Simon- I’ve been binging your channel. Great videos!
Enjoyed it immensely thank you! Have you done the Alaska Highway ?
Simon Needs More UA-cam Channels
10 aren't enough?
Cool video idea: Eratosthenes and measuring the circumference of the earth over 2,200 years ago. Such a great story and one that's just impressive considering the lack of tools and technology involved. Love the videos Simon, your output is just as impressive!
DO: Louisiana Offshore Oil Port
a deepwater port in the Gulf of Mexico 29 kilometers (18 nautical miles)[1] off the coast of Louisiana near the town of Port Fourchon. LOOP provides tanker offloading and temporary storage services for crude oil transported on some of the largest tankers in the world. Most tankers offloading at LOOP are too large for U.S. inland ports. LOOP handles 13 percent of the nation's foreign oil, about 1.2 million barrels (190,000 m3) a day, and connects by pipeline to 50 percent of the U.S. refining capability.
''PIMP'S On The Street'' sounds like a 90's Boyband.
Simon should make a video about the itaipu dam in the brazil-paraguay border
Another entertaining and informative video. Thank you.
The draining of ‘The Fens’. Helmed by the Dutch after they mastered the art of land reclamation.
To bring the topic upto the present… The Future Fens flood risk management is a huge mega project expected to need 1.8 billion pounds invested over the next 100 years to sustain the current standard of service from the existing flood risk management assets.
‘The Fens’ hold a large percentage of the UK Grade 1 agricultural land. Without the investment the fens will likely suffer a catastrophic flood and uk fresh food supply would be damaged beyond recognition.
Simon do a video on the Grasberg Mine!
I know it’s not a mega project but it’d definitely be interesting to see a video about the Teapot dome scandal
I am an IBEW electrician who has worked extensively on the TAPS line. The production off the North Slope due to low oil prices since roughly 2008 is a fraction of what it was in 79. That and the ANWAR ban on development means thats pretty much a wrap on the line. Nice while it lasted but Fracking has led to much more accesible oil down South. Closer to refineries on the gulf coast. Alaskas budget has been in complete free fall since it relied HEAVILY on the taxes off the line to support itself
Up until about 6 months ago we "were" energy independent but now gas is up about 40%........ Thanks for posting another great video.....
Whaaa whaaaa Trump won Whaaa whaaaa STFU
@@MarvinWestmaas wtf are u even saying
Don’t reply i dont wanna hear any more illiterate crap
@@josephhawkins5750 Be glad you finally have a president who doesn't think science doesn't know, the world is now pointing and laughing at you guys a lot less.
Accusations about illiteracy from someone who cries about the big lie, the irony is delicious. Thanks for the entertainment!
@@josephhawkins5750 Turn off CNN and MSNBC and you won't have too.
For this channel I would love to see videos on the space shuttle, and some of the giant railroad locomotives from us railroads like Union Pacific or Penn Central, both had the world's largest steam, diesel and gas-turbine locomotives
Thanks Simon. Love ya bro.
I am 63 and my father was 36 running all the surveying on the north. Section I went up there at 12 years old We flew around in helicopters I got to see alot of it being built I will never forget the shock of moving there in about 1972 I have all of his memorabilia from the job He died from liver cancer about 12 years ago His name was Jack Brady Aka Yukon Jack He knew everybody They may not have liked him but they respected him
The clean up after the Exxon Valdez tanker accident.
It's Val "deez" and Cari "boo" - from a nitpicky Alaskan
Didn’t even attempt Utqiagvik (Barrow, Alaska) did he.. fair enough
10:45 You state footings are 700 to 1800 feet apart. Gut check: 1800 feet is over a third of a mile.....
120,000 thermosyphons used. 2 per footing. 800 mile long pipeline. Average spacing between footings is actually (800*5280) / 60,000 = 70 feet between footings.
you should make a video on the World Trade Center
He did
Jeese coming back here after watching Business Blaze all day is so jarring..
Mispronounced words: Valdez, caribou, Spiro, but you got Unipiaq right.
Other mistakes: the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend was based on a 3-year moving average return of the fund, not the profits from the oil (it's a politcal football now). The oil profits either fund state government or go into the fund. The Permanent Fund currently has around $80b in it.
There is no such thing as a 338 caliber rifle. It was probably a .338.
ANCSA would make a interesting topic for this or another one of your shows. It's the only instance of creating corporations for indigenous people, rather than tribes and reservations. They have been amazingly successful.
Aussie here.. i reckon the sydney harbour bridge or the snowy hydro could be worth a visit
Can you do 1 on the hunt for Bin Laden by Seal Team 6?
Thats fake news.
Brilliant megaproject
A gift 🎁 that keeps on giving. Wow
Please do a video on DEEZ NUTS!
My grandfather worked on this pipeline. He moved up there with my grandma while he was doing it before becoming a full time union man back in Los Angeles.
Still waiting for an Atlantic Wall video.
My grandfather was a plumber, and he worked on the Alaska Pipeline in the mid 70's. I think my parents still have a sculpture made of iron of the state of Alaska, with a welded line on it depicting the pipeline. Anyway, I thought it was cool that he worked on the pipeline, but then my parents said that he was one of the senior workers in the plumbing union, and all he actually did was sit in a warehouse hand out tools to other plumbers. He got paid $20 an hour from what I remember, which is not a bad wage today but was a ridiculous wage in the mid 70's.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel must qualify as a Megaproject here in the US.
Walked on that thing a bunch of times. It's right across the street from my family cabin in Paxson Alaska
Suggestions: Basil II, John Smith [Labour leader who died too young], Brian May [Queen guitarists/physicist], and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg all on Biographics.
It's pretty cool seeing this video pop up while I'm in prudhoe bay.
FWIW: Even if not for fuel, we STILL need petroleum for petrochemicals.
And most fertilizer is derived from petroleum. The World has to have fertilizer to feed the insanely high population.
Electric ground transport wipes out more than half of oil usage, so that's going to pinch profits pretty badly.
Most fertilizer is from natural gas because it's easy to nab hydrogen from there. If we can work out how to create a lot of green hydrogen relatively cheaply, we won't need natural gas to make fertilizer, just water and lots of sun and wind.
Can you do an episode on plastics, their history, their production (being a bi-product of the oil industry) and the process of recycling , the potential pit falls and the enviormental impact for recycling plastics. eg lots of chemicals used in recycling and waste produced, the products crated and its lack of industrial adoption. Surely the GREATEST MEGA PROJECT EVER INVESTIGATED!
Referencing the North Atlantic gargage patch
This estimated to be hundreds of kilometers across , with a density of more than 200,000 pieces of per square kilometer (one piece per five square metres, on average)