Monuments Of The Age

By DANIEL S. LEVY

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, 1931

Opened in the teeth of the Depression as a mighty symbol of rebirth, the 102-floor building got off to a wobbly start financially. Built by General Motors executive John Raskob, the building reigned for 42 years as the world's tallest. Its Art Deco crown, intended as a mooring mast for blimps, served as a handy perch in King Kong. A few skyscrapers have since soared higher, but none has surpassed its limestone majesty.

THREE GORGES DAM, 2009

Mao once dreamed of taming the Yangtze, China's longest river, whose floodwaters have claimed the lives of millions. Officials expect this $24 billion dam to corral the river, giving their nation a great leap forward as it generates electricity for China's burgeoning cities and makes the river more navigable. But as with other great projects, there is controversy. Some see it as a disaster because it will endanger animal species, submerge ancient temples and drive 1.2 million people from their homes.

INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM, 1956 TO THE PRESENT

Created by Dwight Eisenhower, the 43,000-mile, $330 billion (and still counting) network is the greatest pork barrel ever. It made the U.S. an automobile society, created millions of jobs and laced the country with superhighways that increased mobility, spurred trade and opened the countryside to development. It also doomed passenger trains.

CHUNNEL, 1994

Napoleon thought of one, but not until 192 years later would a tunnel under the Channel linking England and the Continent be finished. Beginning on their respective shores, teams of French and English sandhogs used 1,000-ton boring machines to burrow through the 24 miles of chalk, clearing 20 million tons. The two sides met on Dec. 1, 1990.

PANAMA CANAL, 1914

The $380 million project, like the Suez Canal that preceded it, was an epic assault on nature that employed as many as 43,400 workers at a time--many of whom succumbed to yellow fever while clearing the mosquito-infested swamps. More than 211 million cu. yds. of earth and rock were moved to unite the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The canal cut the voyage from New York to California by 7,800 miles. Leased by the U.S., it returns to Panamanian sovereignty in 2000.

--By Daniel S. Levy