Stormvloedkering Neeltje Jans - part of the Delta works in the Netherlands

This is a view of the deltaworks. One of the modern day wonders. It was build to protect the Netherlands against flood.

This impossible engineering assignment is one of the reasons the Dutch are top of the world in “water Management “. The Oosterscheldekering is sometimes referred to as the eighth Wonder of the World. It has been declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

When there is a (higher) risk they close the doors effectively making a open water sea arm a large salt water lake.

More info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oosterscheldekering

This is the layout of the concrete pillars.

When building they needed to place them with very little margin. However they did so without any help of GPS. The simple reason was: it did not exist yet.
The pillars where build in a artificial drained lake in the middel of the sea-arm. After the structures where done they flooded the lake again. That way the crane ship could get to them and picked them one by one to carry them to the final destination.
Remember this is the sea, with tide, with wind, 100ft depth, no gps, and less then a feet margin.

Overview 1/2

Overview 2/2

#tradition #netherlands #engineering