Patrick T. Fallon/NEOM/AFP via Getty
By Joe Edwards
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From Saudi Arabia’s bid to build a new futuristic city in the desert to California’s push for high-speed rail, a wave of mega-sized infrastructure projects are aiming to reshape regions around the world.
NEOM
NEOM is Saudi Arabia’s flagship “gigaproject” being built in the country’s northwest Tabuk Province, along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba near the borders with Egypt and Jordan. It’s envisioned as a vast region of new developments—perhaps most famously the linear city The Line, plus the Oxagon port—a floating industrial complex, and coastal resorts.
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Recent reports put the likely total cost near $9 trillion. Newsweek reported earlier this year that a "comprehensive review" into the scope and feasibility of the gigantic project had been initiated.
The project is a major component of the country's Vision 2030—a bid to diversify its economy away from oil dependence.
California High-Speed Railway
California’s high-speed rail project is a state-led effort to build a line linking major regions in the state.
According to officials responsible for the megaproject, construction is underway along 119 miles in the Central Valley, with 86 of 92 structures in progress or finished, 70 miles of guideway completed, and 99 percent of required property secured.
Some 463 of the 494 miles in the Phase 1 corridor between San Francisco and Anaheim have received environmental clearance and are ready for construction, while design and pre-construction work is in progress to extend the Central Valley segment from 119 miles to 171 miles, connecting Merced to Bakersfield.
The full system was initially expected to cost $33 billion, but recent estimates for the network’s price tag exceeded $135 billion, Newsweek reported in September. The project has seen years of delays and budget inflations, but recently won a financial lifeline, with California committing $1 billion annually from cap-and-trade revenues through 2045.
According to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s official website, 171 miles of the project are under design, with 119 miles of this figure in active construction.
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King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC)
This 185-square-kilometer (roughly 70 square miles) megacity was first announced in 2005 and is located on the Saudi Arabian coast on the Red Sea, a short distance north from Jeddah.
The site has seen numerous additions since then. In 2009, construction began on King Abdullah Port—a deep-water facility intended to accommodate large container volumes and boost the city’s logistics capabilities, while more recently, 2023 saw the launch of the KAEC Special Economic Zone, “enhancing [the city’s] industrial, technological, and logistics sectors.”
According to Blackridge Research and Consulting, KAEC’s price tag is around $100 billion.
More than 100 firms have established a presence in the city, according to the megaproject’s official website.
Lower Thames Crossing
Described as the largest road tunnel in the U.K., the Lower Thames Crossing will link Tilbury in Essex via a tunnel underneath the Thames with Gravesend in Kent—in the country’s Southeast.
Construction was slated to start in 2026, with an anticipated opening in 2032, according to the BBC, which also reports the project will cost approximately £10 billion ($13.3 billion).
The route is expected to be approximately 14.3 miles long, with 2.6 miles of this in two tunnels under the Thames River.
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