All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S01E05.Soviet.Doomsday.Device.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
A top-secret nazi facility

With aims for the stars.

Gough: the genesis of the space
Program was military.

How to attack your enemy --

That was the start
Of the space program.

Narrator:
...A huge abandoned tower
Dominating the landscape...

Bell: not only is it functional.

It's intriguing to look at.

Narrator:
...And a shocking machine that
Strikes with lightning force...

Narrator:
...And a shocking machine that
Strikes with lightning force...

That thing is just immense.

It's a man-made
Wonder of the world.

Narrator: once, they were some
Of the most advanced structures

And facilities on the planet,

At the cutting edge
Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them?

And how?

And why were they abandoned?

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Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Rising above the oka river
In western russia

Is a revolutionary
Engineering landmark.

This abandoned tower stands
Nearly 420 feet high,

Is only 98 feet wide
At its base,

And is made entirely
Out of steel.

Despite it's massive height
And narrow base,

This lattice work of interwoven
Steel still stands

As a true engineering marvel.

Bell: you look at it, and you're
Not entirely sure why,

Bell: you look at it, and you're
Not entirely sure why,

But you know there's something
Different about it.

It's got a curved profile.
It has a curved shape to it,

Yet all the members
And the constituents of it

Are long and straight.

It's a work of art.

It's a work of engineering.

It's a work of maths.

Archer:
It's almost mind-bending,
Looking at that thing.

It looks like there's
All this curving steel.

It looks like there's
All this curving steel.

Got to remember, every piece
In there is straight.

How do you work out how strong
This structure is gonna be,

How resilient
It's gonna be

To wind and all these
Sorts of things?

Narrator: but who built
This stunning piece

Of architectural engineering?

What was its purpose?

And why was it abandoned?

In the late 1920s,
The newly founded soviet union

Has an electricity problem
In its city of nizhny novgorod,

Has an electricity problem
In its city of nizhny novgorod,

East of moscow.

Both its military and industrial
Resources need more power.

But to deliver on that,
They must create

An unprecedented
Electrical tower

With far-reaching capacity.

The man who dreams up, designs,

And builds this
Groundbreaking structure

Is russian engineer

And scientist
Vladimir grigoryevich shukhov.

And scientist
Vladimir grigoryevich shukhov.

I think the shukhov design
Is very pioneering

Because a lot of these masts
Were there to be practical.

And we just needed
To get the height,

And we wanted to it with
As little steel as possible

And just get up there.

But I think shukhov thought
A little bit deeper

About the problem.

He thought about how we could
Actually make it look beautiful,

How it could be
Mathematically very precise.

And he came up with, what I
Think, is a very, very beautiful

And unusual structure.

And unusual structure.

Narrator: this is the
Revolutionary shukhov tower.

It is one of six built in 1927
To carry power lines

Across the oka river
To vital soviet industries

In the city of nizhny novgorod,

260 miles east of moscow.

Engineers begin working
On one of two towers

Standing on the north bank
Of the river.

But at a staggering
420 feet high,

But at a staggering
420 feet high,

Will shukhov's revolutionary
Design be able to cope

With the weight
Of the cables

And the effect of the wind
Blasting against it?

Bell:
Any engineer designing a tower

That's gonna be
Hundreds of meters up in the air

Needs to consider
The effect of wind.

That wind is gonna be
Striking it,

And if you can't feel anything
On the ground, up there,

There's going to be forces
Acting against your tower,

Effectively trying to
Bring the thing down.

Effectively trying to
Bring the thing down.

If you look at an example
Like the eiffel tower,

You can take a look at that
And say,

"It's quite a squat structure."

It's got a wide base,

And it kind of tapers in
Towards the top.

That looks pretty solid.

Shukhov's towers
Don't have that.

They're much more graceful.

Yet, somehow,
Using his mathematical mind

And putting that into practice,

He's created towers that have
That grace and elegance,

But still do the job.

He must have had to so many
Calculations to work out

Whether this thing was feasible.

Kept it in that simple,
Elegant, beautiful design --

Almost transparent nature.

All those beams are very,
Very thin, that you can imagine

Wind being able
To pass through it

Without causing
That much of an issue.

So, in a way,
It's a very efficient,

If complicated, design.

If complicated, design.

Narrator: but as stunning
As the design is,

Building a tower of this
Astonishing height

Requires an innovative approach.

I think the way that they built
The shukhov tower

Is actually quite clever.

So, they started off at the base

And then lifted the segments
Through the base

And then placed it on top.

And that actually
Works quite well

Because you could put
The segments on the side.

But in that case, you'd need to
Lift it up and then sideways.

What they did was, simply, to
Lift it up and fix it in place.

What they did was, simply, to
Lift it up and fix it in place.

Bell: the shukhov tower --
Not only is it functional,

It's intriguing to look at.

Narrator: but this isn't
Shukhov's first attempt

At building a tower
At this scale.

Years earlier, he tried to build
The shabolovka tower in moscow.

It was his first
Major construction project

For the newly founded
Soviet union,

And he had major plans.

And he had major plans.

He designed it to be
Over 1,100 feet in height,

But he faced
An unexpected problem.

Not only would shukhov's tower
Have dwarfed the eiffel tower,

It would have been three
American football fields tall.

Imagine that.

Narrator: a shortage of steel
Limited his ambitions,

And the tower didn't even reach
Half the intended height.

And the tower didn't even reach
Half the intended height.

Agrawal: I believe shukhov
Could have done it.

I think he could have
Got up to 300 meters

Because his structure was
So incredibly elegant,

So incredibly light,

And so perfectly oriented

With all the different
Steel beams

Coming into create stability,

That I believe
He would have done it.

Narrator: for two years, shukhov
And his workers construct

This breathtaking tower
In nizhny novgorod.

But will his
Groundbreaking design

But will his
Groundbreaking design

Help power
Soviet ambitions?

And why was it abandoned?

Narrator: the abandoned
Shukhov tower in western russia

Stand at an impressive
420 feet tall.

It's an electricity pylon
Made entirely out of steel

And the brainchild
Of russian architect

And engineer
Vladimir grigoryevich shukhov.

Bell: shukhov's approach
To engineering

Is from an extremely
Theoretical perspective.

Is from an extremely
Theoretical perspective.

He's managed to turn
An extremely complex

Mathematical formula
Into something very practical.

And apparently, it can be used
In almost any function

Where you need to have something
Raised up into the sky.

Narrator: in 1929, shukhov
Completes his epic tower,

And for years, the tower
Successfully carries electricity

Through its cables
Without incident.

Through its cables
Without incident.

[ being translated ]
Shukhov was a brilliant artist.

Some people are talented
In an artistic field.

Some are talented
In mathematics.

Shukhov was a brilliant artist
And a brilliant engineer

At the same time,
So he was perfect.

He was a pioneer in this area.

Nobody else was doing it
Before him.

He had a brilliant intuition
That helped him

He had a brilliant intuition
That helped him

To estimate risks
And make it work.

Narrator:
The genius of shukhov's tower
Inspires other engineers

To replicate his revolutionary
Diagrid hyperboloid design.

And today, his innovative
Approach can be seen

In some of the world's
Greatest structures,

Including the hearst tower
In new york city

And king's cross station
In london.

And king's cross station
In london.

In 1989, because the power line
Is rerouted,

The shukhov tower is abandoned.

But today, its engineering
Strength remains.

And though shukhov's name
May be largely unknown,

His legacy and structure
Still stand.

Bell: shukhov may not be
One of the most

Well-known mathematical
Or engineering names

Known to us,
Here in the west,

Known to us,
Here in the west,

But what he created
Was totally unique.

You can't just walk past one of
Shukhov's towers and go, "Fuh."

You're gonna stop
And look at it.

And for me, that's enough
To keep it preserved

And keep generations
To come interested.

Narrator:
1,100 miles away, on the
Northeastern coast of germany,

On the edge of the baltic sea,

Is what remains of a top-secret
Military installation.

Is what remains of a top-secret
Military installation.

Spread across
This windswept peninsula,

Hidden among the pine trees,
Are perplexing mounds

Of shattered concrete
And twisted steel.

Contaminated by chemicals
And designated a no-go area,

These abandoned
Underground bunkers, airfields,

And buildings could once hold
Up to 12,000 workers.

And buildings could once hold
Up to 12,000 workers.

And before it all
Stands the remains

Of a 46-foot-high rocket.

Gough: what's forgotten is that,
The genesis of the space program

Wasn't these ambitious goals
Of putting a man on the moon.

It was military.

It was sending missiles
Straight up into space,

It was sending missiles
Straight up into space,

Not caring about where they go,

But caring about how they
Come down, and observing that

So you can understand
How you could use

That information
To attack your enemy.

That was the start
Of the space program.

Narrator: but what role did
This remote facility play

In the nazi quest
For world domination?

And why was it abandoned?

In 1936, hitler has been
In power for three years.

With his eyes set
On a military conquest,

With his eyes set
On a military conquest,

He sets out to create
One of the largest

Armament centers in europe
With this --

The infamous peenemunde base.

It's designed to be

One of germany's largest
Military proving grounds.

And construction begins
To create the first

Rocket-testing range
In the world.

Green: governments were willing
To fund this program

Because they wanted to have this
Military dominance in europe.

And so, that flow of funding
And the focused effort

Meant that rocket technology
Accelerated

In a very short amount
Of time.

Narrator:
And pushing nazi germany's
Long-rang weapons program

Narrator:
And pushing nazi germany's
Long-rang weapons program

Is the ambitious young engineer,

Wernher von braun.

Green: he was very enthusiastic
About opening up

The opportunities of rocketry
For space exploration.

Narrator:
Completed in 1937, the whole
Complex costs the staggering

Narrator:
Completed in 1937, the whole
Complex costs the staggering

Modern-day equivalent
Of $25 billion.

It consists of an assembly hall,
A banked sand wall,

And a launch pad known
Known as "Prufstand sieben,"

Or test sand vii.

Reporter: in 1936, they had
Started their peenemunde project

To develop missiles
Of an entirely new type.

And their first one
Was not a rocket.

And their first one
Was not a rocket.

It was the buzz bomb -- the v-1.

It's propulsion
Was by pulsejet engine.

Narrator
With the pioneering success
Of the v-1, engineers move on.

And at the height of
World war ii, in october 1942,

Von braun spearheads
The first successful launch

Of his signature rocket --
The v-2.

Reaching an astonishing altitude
Of 52 miles,

This historic rocket
Reaches the upper atmosphere

And launches nazi military
Technology into the future.

Standing 46 feet high,
The v-2 weighs 28,000 pounds

And carries a ton
Of high explosives.

The v-2 missile is in itself
An extremely impressive weapon,

The v-2 missile is in itself
An extremely impressive weapon,

And arguably, it's the start
Of the putting man on the moon

And rocket technology.

But around that rocket,
You've got the infrastructure

And the facility

That enabled the germans
To do what they did with it.

We're talking about
Refueling the rocket.

We're talking about producing
That fuel in the first place.

The logistics of getting
Everything that they needed,

The monitoring systems in place,

The monitoring systems in place,

As well as actually getting
That rocket actually firing.

Narrator:
But can the german engineers
Get this new rocket technology

To reach outer space?

And why was
The peenemunde base abandoned?

Narrator:
During the second world war,

The peenemunde test facility
In northeast germany

Is home to nazi germany's
Cutting-edge v-2 rocket program.

It embodies one of hitler's
Great dreams --

A powerful weapon
To destroy his enemies

And a means to exploring
The far reaches of space.

But this new technology
Gets off to a rocky start.

But this new technology
Gets off to a rocky start.

...Of exploding and
Misfunctions.

Narrator:
But by june 1944, von braun
And his engineers make history

When they vertically launch
A v-2 rocket

From test stand vii
At peenemunde.

From test stand vii
At peenemunde.

Traveling at four times
The speed of sound,

This historic rocket
Becomes the first

To cross
The boundaries of space.

But during the war,

The nazis also drop thousands
Of v-2 warheads

On allied civilian targets.

The v-2 was developed
And being tested

Whilst the germans were
At war with the allies.

So, albeit, that v-2 rocket
Was not used for a purpose

So, albeit, that v-2 rocket
Was not used for a purpose

That we can celebrate,

The engineering behind
Was extremely thorough

And very impressive.

Gough: hitler was obsessed
With wonder weapons,

And that's where
All the money went.

And it was good for the u.S.
And the allies at large

Because there weren't basic
Funding for infrastructure.

There weren't enough tanks.

People were riding bikes.

It wasn't like state-of-the-art
Anything on the battlefield.

And that's the irony.

And that's the irony.

Narrator: at the end of world
War ii, nazi germany crumbles,

And many of its key
V-2 launch sites,

Like test stand vii,
Are destroyed.

And as part of
Operation paperclip,

The americans extricate
Von braun and his team,

Who further the v-2
Rocket program

For the united states.

Once in america,
His advanced military work

Forms the foundations
For nasa's apollo program,

Forms the foundations
For nasa's apollo program,

Which eventually takes humans
To the moon

In the 1960s
And '70s.

But I think, even if that
Hadn't have been the motivation,

We still look
Towards the stars.

It's across all of our cultures
To think about humans going out

Into the solar system
And out into the cosmos.

So, the second world war
Was the catalyst,

But it was no means the reason

For us having rocket technology.

Narrator:
Today, the launch sites
At peenemunde lie abandoned,

Narrator:
Today, the launch sites
At peenemunde lie abandoned,

Slowly rotting away, and
Disappearing into the forest.

900 miles east lies another,
Even more shocking, structure.

Hidden among the forests
In istra, russia,

Just a short distance
From moscow,

Is a series of bizarre,
Alien-looking metal structures.

Is a series of bizarre,
Alien-looking metal structures.

Outfitted with numerous
Electricity-conducting coils,

This apocalyptic machine
Towers over 100 feet in the air.

Archer:
That thing is just immense.

I think it's actually stunning.

All the sort of balls
And bits of steel --

It's a man-made wonder
Of the world, I would say.

I think it looks amazing.

Narrator: but why were these

Narrator: but why were these

Strange-looking
Structures built?

What purpose did they serve?

And why were they abandoned?

In the 1970s,
During the cold war,

The soviet union is looking
To boost its military defense

Against the united states.

And to do that, the military,
Along with government,

Try something radical --

To generate huge, man-made
Bolts of lightning.

To generate huge, man-made
Bolts of lightning.

The soviet union keeps this
Top-secret project classified,

Positioning it
In a secluded forest.

The '60s and '70s --

Very engineering-focused
Architecture.

And they say, "Oh,
Isn't that dirty and ugly."

No. I think there's actually
Some hidden beauty within that.

Narrator:
This is the marx generator.

Looking like a relic
From a science-fiction movie,

Looking like a relic
From a science-fiction movie,

These structures
Actually generate

A shocking form of electricity.

In fact, the electricity
Generated here

Dwarfs its rivals.

When you've got anything
That sort of seems to be

Revolutionizing the world,
That seems really cool

And seems to be the future,

People want to harness that.

Narrator: and it has one
Terrifying purpose.

For a fraction of a second,
It's able to create

An artificial blue-and-white
Lightning bolt

An artificial blue-and-white
Lightning bolt

650 feet long.

To do this, the marx generator
Must use all the energy

The neighboring power stations
Can provide --

6 million volts.

But what possible use could
A man-made lightning bolt hold?

In the '70s, both the east
And west are too evenly matched

For either side to risk
A first military strike.

For either side to risk
A first military strike.

So, the soviet union
Focuses on defense

And develops other ways
To disable america's

Intercontinental ballistic
Missiles.

There was a wide variety
Of defenses and systems

In place
On both sides.

Like, we had a pretty good idea
Of their missile capabilities,

And I think they had
A pretty good idea

Of the capabilities
Of our weaponry.

Of the capabilities
Of our weaponry.

But can the marx generator

Actually deter
Incoming missiles?

Will it work?

And why was it abandoned?

Narrator:
Hidden among the forests
In istra, outside of moscow,

Is a series of bizarre
Metal structures

Called the marx generator.

Designed to generate
Artificial lightning,

This machine has
One singular purpose --

To strike down
Incoming american missiles.

In the 1970s, it's very
Important for protecting

In the 1970s, it's very
Important for protecting

One's nuclear deterrent force
In the homeland.

And remember, also, they're
Building anti-missile defenses

Against ballistic missiles.

Narrator: but one side effect
Of exploding nuclear weapons

Is that they generate
A massive surge of power

Called an "Electromagnetic
Pulse," or e.M.P.,

Which can knock out
All kinds of electronics,

Including the guidance systems
Of missiles.

Including the guidance systems
Of missiles.

We didn't quite understand
The electromagnetic pulse

That would have very like
Have damaged our weaponry.

But as we moved to more
Sophisticated systems,

They actually become
More vulnerable

To electromagnetic pulse.

The technology is developed
And developed and developed.

It's not as simple
As just creating a wave.

How do you turn electrical power
Into an electromagnetic power

How do you turn electrical power
Into an electromagnetic power

That you can then transmit?

Narrator:
The soviet military takes on
This engineering challenge.

Because lightning
Naturally generates

An electromagnetic pulse,

Soviet scientists try to create
A machine to harness that power

And paralyze
America's missile arsenal.

Corum: we had cruise missiles,
Which were, possibly,

Our most effective weapon

For targeting soviet airspace

For targeting soviet airspace

Because they flew
Above the earth.

And they are extremely difficult
To pick up on any kind of radar,

And certainly the radars
They had in the 1970s.

Narrator: this vulnerability
Makes the marx generator

Even more crucial
For the soviets' defenses.

What makes the lightning
Generator work are its coils.

These coils create
Powerful electromagnetic pulses,

These coils create
Powerful electromagnetic pulses,

Which can be directed
At incoming nuclear missiles,

Disabling them
Before hitting their targets.

[ being translated ]
The machine works
The same as lightning.

Planes are instructed to fly
No more than 30 kilometers

From a thundercloud.

This is because
Strong electric fields

Reside in the atmosphere
Of the thundercloud,

And a plane can
Conduct lightning.

The lightning will cause
An e.M.P.

And knock out
The plane's electrics.

And knock out
The plane's electrics.

Archer: the coils are actually
Great at sending

The electromagnetic waves.

It's developed
Sort of new techniques

To be able to harness,
Essentially,

These wiggles
Of electricity and magnetism

Into something useful.

Narrator: though it's never
Ultimately used to strike down

Incoming u.S. Missiles,
The engineers

Keep the marx machine
In operation for 20 years.

Keep the marx machine
In operation for 20 years.

But there's a significant cost.

Because the marx machine
Must use

6 million volts
Of energy to work,

It's very expensive to run.

And when the soviet union
Collapses in 1991,

Finances for the marx generator
Simply run out.

Today, what could have been
One of the world's

Ultimate weapons of defense

Is now left abandoned
In a remote forest lair.

Is now left abandoned
In a remote forest lair.

Over 1,500 miles away,
Lying forgotten

On a sheer-sided mountain
In derbyshire,

In northern england.

Is the most ruined route

In the whole
Of the british isles.

The abandoned road runs
For nearly 12 miles

Through the remote
And hilly peak district,

Formerly connecting the cities
Of sheffield and manchester.

Formerly connecting the cities
Of sheffield and manchester.

It's one of the highest
Routes in england

At around 1,000 feet
Above sea level,

In a location known locally
As "The shivering mountain."

Agrawal: it gives us a very,
Very clear reminder

That things can go wrong,

And this is how awfully
They can go wrong, as well.

Narrator:
But why was the road built?

And why was it abandoned?

In the early 19th century,
During the heart of britain's

In the early 19th century,
During the heart of britain's

Industrial revolution,
Industrialists need to provide

A much-needed commercial
Lifeline between communities.

Bell: during the industrial
Revolution in britain,

There was industry popping up
All over the country.

But that industry was entirely
Dependent on the goods

And materials
Coming in and going out.

Transportation networks
Were critical.

Agrawal: so, without the new
Roads, without the railway,

Agrawal: so, without the new
Roads, without the railway,

Without these news canals
That had been dug around,

And this huge network

That basically joined
The whole country

And made it one country,

The industrial revolution

Just simply
Couldn't have happened.

Bell: these were the veins
And the arteries

That pumped life into
The industrial revolution.

You couldn't have one
Without the other.

Narrator: to establish
This vital link,

Engineers designed
The mam tor road,

One of the most
Treacherous routes

One of the most
Treacherous routes

In all of britain.

But to make it, engineers
Must face a big problem --

The road crosses
A range of steep mountains.

And with a steep gradient,
Any straight road

Would be practically unusable

By the horse-drawn wagons
Of the day.

There's a certain limitation
To how steep a road

You can get a horse to draw
An enormous, heavy load up.

You can get a horse to draw
An enormous, heavy load up.

Mam tor was chosen as a route

Because of the natural lie
Of the land.

It had a much gentler slope,

So as they could
Snake their way up,

Getting over the problem
Of having two steeper roads.

It was a road that horses
Could go up,

But little did they know,

Because of the geology
Around it,

It was probably the worst place
They could have built it.

Narrator:
So, what do the engineers try to
Overcome this difficult geology?

Narrator:
So, what do the engineers try to
Overcome this difficult geology?

And how did this remote
Mountain road become abandoned?

Narrator:
In england's peak district lies
The treacherous mam tor road.

It snakes its way
Across 12 miles

Through some of
The countries hilliest

And most rugged terrain.

For 19th-century engineers
To build around

This steep gradient,
They route the new road

Across the side of a 1,700-foot
Peak called mam tor.

Across the side of a 1,700-foot
Peak called mam tor.

But an underlying issue
With the geology

Blindsides their efforts.

Agrawal: so, understanding
The geology is so important

Because at the end of the day,

You can have a really strong
Road surface there,

But if what's holding that up
Is really weak

And not fit for purpose,

Then that strong road
Is not gonna do anything useful.

Bell:
Even for road builders today,
The geology and the environment

Bell:
Even for road builders today,
The geology and the environment

-- where you're gonna
Place your road --

Is probably
The most important factor.

You need to know how to deal
With the geology

And the environment
That you've got

So that you've got
A nice, solid,

Secure road
That's gonna stay there.

Narrator:
But the mam tor road is
Anything but solid and secure.

Unknown to the engineers,
The road and the hill it sits on

Actually move at a rate
Of 1 foot every year.

Bell:
You've got the road, which is
Built on a layer of sandstone,

And underneath that
Is a layer of shale.

Now, shale is
Extremely unstable,

Especially in wintertime,

When you've got rainwater

And precipitation draining down
Through the sandstone

And making that layer of shale
Really quite fluid almost.

So, that is the critical factor
Of mam tor.

Narrator:
Soon after construction,
The mam tor road begins to split

And buckle as the surface
Of the hill continues to move.

And buckle as the surface
Of the hill continues to move.

To compensate,
Engineers make simple repairs

Throughout much
Of the 19th century.

But by the 20th century,

They try to hold
The road together

With a newly
Developed material --

Tarmac.

So, the introduction of tarmac
Made it easier

To actually repair
The surface of the road,

'cause you could come
And mix the rocks

With this kind of bitumen,
Sticky material

And create a nice,
Solid surface.

But the problem, again, here,
Is that, the bottom of it,

But the problem, again, here,
Is that, the bottom of it,

The foundations, are just
Simply slipping away.

So, it doesn't mater how good
Your surface is on top.

If the bottom's
Not strong enough,

Then the top's
Not gonna do very much.

Narrator:
Despite the new tarmac surface,
The slope keeps moving the road.

Bell: over time, there have been
A number of attempts

To try and shore up the road
To stop it from slipping away.

The biggest of those,
Probably, in 1949 --

There was a big slippage.

There was a big slippage.

So, what they did -- they dug
Further back into the hillside,

And then, on the lower side
Of the road,

Built up the road
With a load of limestone on top.

It actually made things worse,
Because not only had they

Cut into the geology

And actually encouraged
For more sliding to happen,

They then also overloaded
The road surface.

And all that happened was,
The whole thing

Started moving in a way that
They hadn't even seen before.

Bell:
By putting a load more mass
On the kind of outer edge,

Bell:
By putting a load more mass
On the kind of outer edge,

There was even more slippage.

It's almost like sticking a huge
Weight off the wrong side

Of the leaning tower of pisa.

It's gonna go.

Narrator: structural engineers
Estimate that landslides

Containing about 45 million tons
Of earth and rock

Have caused the road to slip
Dramatically 131 feet downhill.

Agrawal: there was a decision
Made to shelve it

Because it was just
Getting to a stage

Because it was just
Getting to a stage

Where it was
Completely unusable.

And I guess the balance
You need you to find is, well,

How much is it gonna cost
To create a new road

And just completely
Bypass what's there

And what's been destroyed?

And how much is it gonna cost
Of fix the original pathway?

And if the new one
Is actually cheaper,

And perhaps even better
For the environment,

Than trying to fix
This old one,

Then you go for the new one.

But there becomes a point
Where you just have to say,

"Do you know what?

Enough's enough.
Nature's beaten us.

Let's close it."

Let's close it."

Narrator: with ever-changing
Geology and constant landslides,

Local authorities closed
The mam tor road

To all vehicles in 1979.

Today, this road lies
Ruined and broken,

Abandoned on the peaks
Of derbyshire, in england.

Though inaccessible to vehicles,
The mam tor road

Is now popular
With hikers and bikers.

On the opposite side
Of the planet,

In cape town, south africa,

An abandoned road that runs
Through the heart of the city

Has become a notorious icon.

Made out of reinforced concrete,
It silently towers,

But mysteriously ends,
Above the city.

Gough: it's very unusual
For authorities to leave

The catastrophe of this
Great public works

The catastrophe of this
Great public works

Suspended in the air.

It's a piece of infrastructure,

It's a piece
Of civil engineering,

That you notice
Because it's not finished.

Narrator: but why was
This project started?

And why was it abandoned?

In the 1930s,
The city of cape town

Reclaims 480 acres of land
From the sea,

Known as "The foreshore."

To incorporate it
Into the city,

Urban planners
Need a new road layout.

Urban planners
Need a new road layout.

They decide to build
A large freeway

Connecting the port
With the city.

So, you can see,
We're right in the center

Of what's now
Downtown cape town.

Ahead of us, we've got the port,

And we've got the other part
Of the freeway.

And this whole area,
From the port

Until just beyond
These high-rises,

It's part of the foreshore.

And that's really where
This story begins.

Narrator: this is the severed
Foreshore freeway bridge,

Narrator: this is the severed
Foreshore freeway bridge,

Now known as
"The invisible bridge."

Planning starts
In the early 1940s,

But the effort
Soon faces problems.

Throughout history, there are
Bucket loads of examples

In civil engineering

Where the final outcome
Is a compromise

Between, maybe,
Function and form.

And often, what you end up
With is something pretty boring

Or enormously elaborate.

But there are so many
Stakeholders

But there are so many
Stakeholders

In these kind of projects

That it's never
One person's decision.

Kane:
There were two main parties that
Were interested in this land.

One was the city itself,
And one was the port authority.

The city of cape town,
They had this vision that,

When europeans arrived
By cruise ship at the port,

They would have this
Monumental entrance.

It would be like
A gateway to africa.

Narrator: but which side
Will get their plan approved --

The port authorities
Or the city?

The port authorities
Or the city?

And why is
This bridge abandoned?

Narrator: in the heart
Of cape town are the remains

Of the foreshore freeway bridge.

In the 1940s,
The city of cape town

Wants a grand, french
Design and layout,

While the port prefers
Simple function over form.

But in the 1950s, the new head
Of city engineering,

Solomon morris,

Proposes a new direction.

Proposes a new direction.

The reason why the freeway
Was styled the way it was,

Was not obvious to most.

It was styled as this huge sort
Of freeway autobahn in cape town

Because that is what
The lobbyists --

The u. S. Car manufacturers --
Wanted, not only in cape town,

But all around the world.

Big motorways that would be
Filled with big buicks,

Big chevys, big american cars.

Over 20 years of wrangling,
The plan,

Over 20 years of wrangling,
The plan,

Which more or less looks
Like what we have today,

We developed in 1963.

Until, finally,
In the late in 1960s,

Some of the construction
Actually began.

Narrator: but by the 1970s,
South african politics

Impact the foreshore freeway.

Apartheid laws lead to
The forced clearance

Of an ethnically diverse area
Called "District six."

Reporter: in south africa,
Natives protest flared

Against apartheid
And pass-book law.

100 died when police fired
On demonstrators at sharpeville.

The south african
Apartheid government

Chose not to complete the bridge

And not to spend those funds
On the freeway,

But rather to relocate
A multi-ethnic community

That was in the heart
Of prime, central cape town

To someplace
Less important.

To someplace
Less important.

It was all about focus.

It was all about funds.

Narrator: construction
Still proceeds, slowly.

But with only the elevated
Sections of the roadway

Left to build, work mysteriously
Comes to a halt in 1977.

There are a couple of theories
Why the freeway

Was never completed
And left just suspended in air

Like you see it today.

One is that,
There was a shopkeeper

Whose property was right in
The critical path of the bridge.

Whose property was right in
The critical path of the bridge.

He wouldn't sell.

The other theory,
Which I really like,

Is that the engineer
Who designed the whole thing

Realized two ends of the bridge
Would never meet.

Narrator:
Today, the foreshore freeway
Bridge sits abandoned,

High above the streets
Of the city,

Devoid of any cars,
Any life, or any purpose.

But cape town's
Inventive citizens

Are finding a variety of uses
For the concrete white elephant.

Are finding a variety of uses
For the concrete white elephant.

The aborted freeway has been
Used for many artistic endeavors

Since it was abandoned.

Movie sets, supermodel shoots,
That kind of thing.

But perhaps the most innovative
Is, it was used as the set

For the 2010 football world cup.

And these giant horns
That you hear in the stadium,

They had a huge one
Mounted right there.

But it was so loud, people were
Claiming they had heart attacks,

But it was so loud, people were
Claiming they had heart attacks,

And there traffic accidents,

So the whole thing
Had to be abandoned.