Major infrastructure — construction cost (in today's money)
Costs vary enormously by location, era, and complexity. These are approximate real-world figures.
Channel Tunnel (UK–France)
~$21B — 50 km undersea tunnel
Golden Gate Bridge
~$1.5B today
Typical large suspension bridge
$1–4B
Simple motorway bridge (100m)
$10–50M
Nuclear power plant
~$10–20B (new build)
Large airport (new)
~$10–15B
Large hospital (500 beds)
~$1–2B
Skyscraper (50+ floors)
$500M–1B
Golden Gate Bridge — what goes into the cost
Span length
1,280 m
Main span. Total bridge: 2.7 km.
Tower height
227 m
Above water. Taller than the Eiffel Tower's first floor.
Main cable diameter
92 cm
Each cable has 27,572 individual wires inside.
Steel used
83,000 tonnes
About 60,000 cars' worth of steel.
Original cost (1937)
$35 million
~$1.5B in today's money.
Built in
4 years
1933–1937. 11 workers died. 1,400 workers employed at peak.
Key anchor: a major iconic suspension bridge costs roughly $1–4 billion. A simple road bridge over a river costs $10–50 million. The difference is mostly span length and engineering complexity.
Part B · how much can each vehicle carry?
Car (standard 4-door)lightest
Passenger capacity
4–5 people
~300–400 kg of people
Cargo/boot load
~400–500 kg
Legal payload. Don't confuse with boot volume (litres).
Total vehicle weight
~1,400 kg
The car itself, empty. Payload adds on top.
Van / light commercialeveryday freight
Payload (small van)
~800 kg
Transit-size van. Good for pallets, furniture.
Payload (large van)
~1,200 kg
Luton / Sprinter. Used by most delivery companies.
EU road limit. About 17–18 family cars' worth of weight.
Gross vehicle weight
~44 tonnes total
Truck (18t) + trailer (26t payload).
Load volume
~82–100 m³
Standard 13.6m trailer. Fits ~26 standard pallets.
Cargo aircraft (Boeing 747 freighter)fast but expensive
Payload capacity
~103 tonnes
About 4 fully loaded HGV trucks — in one aircraft.
Range (loaded)
~8,000 km
Europe to Asia nonstop, roughly.
Cost per tonne-km
~$4–8
~10× more expensive than sea freight per tonne.
Container ship (large — e.g. Evergreen)the real workhorse of global trade
Container capacity
~24,000 TEU
TEU = 1 standard 20-foot container. That's 24,000 of them.
Maximum cargo weight
~200,000 tonnes
About 8,000 loaded HGV trucks — on one ship.
Ship's own weight (empty)
~55,000 tonnes
The ship weighs ~55,000 t before loading a single container.
One large container ship carries the equivalent freight of ~8,000 trucks or ~1,940 Boeing 747 freighters. This is why ~90% of all traded goods travel by sea. It's by far the most efficient way to move things.
Part C · payload comparison at a glance
Maximum payload capacity (tonnes)
Large container ship
200,000 t
Bulk carrier ship
~180,000 t (iron ore, grain)
Large cargo plane (747F)
103 t
HGV truck
26 t
The scale difference is staggering. One container ship carries as much as ~1,940 cargo planes or ~7,700 trucks. This is why shipping by sea is ~10–50× cheaper per tonne than air freight.
Part D · anchor numbers to memorize
~$1–4B
A major suspension bridge
Simple road bridge: $10–50M. The complexity drives cost, not just size.
500 kg
Car cargo payload
A fully loaded family car (people + luggage) is roughly 2,000 kg total
26 tonnes
HGV truck payload
About 18 family cars' worth of cargo in one lorry
103 tonnes
Boeing 747 freighter payload
~4 fully loaded HGV trucks, flying at 900 km/h
200,000 t
Large container ship payload
~8,000 trucks. 90% of world trade moves this way.
Part E · test yourself
1. A news article says a new bridge will cost "$800 million." Is that cheap, average, or expensive for a bridge?
It's on the lower end for a major bridge — reasonable but not cheap. A simple road bridge is $10–50M. A major suspension bridge is $1–4B. At $800M, you're looking at a significant but not iconic bridge — likely a cable-stayed or medium-span structure over a wide river or bay. The Golden Gate Bridge cost the equivalent of ~$1.5B in today's money, so $800M buys you roughly half a Golden Gate.
2. You want to move 500 tonnes of cargo from Europe to Japan. A ship takes 30 days. A plane takes 12 hours. What's the main reason almost everyone chooses the ship?
Cost. Air freight costs roughly $4–8 per tonne per km. Sea freight costs about $0.05–0.15 per tonne per km — roughly 50–100× cheaper. For 500 tonnes over ~10,000 km: sea freight ≈ $500,000–750,000. Air freight ≈ $40–80 million. You'd only choose air if the cargo is time-critical (medicine, electronics, perishables) or extremely high-value relative to weight.
3. A removal company says their van can carry "up to 1 tonne." You're moving a 2-bedroom flat. Is one van enough?
Probably not by weight, but the volume limit usually hits first. A 2-bed flat typically has 20–40 m³ of furniture and boxes. A large van holds 8–14 m³, so you'd likely need 2–4 van loads regardless of weight. The 1-tonne weight limit is rarely the binding constraint for household goods — furniture is bulky but not particularly heavy (a sofa is ~80–120 kg, a double bed frame ~50 kg, a fridge ~80 kg).
4. A large container ship carries 200,000 tonnes. It crosses the Pacific in about 14 days. How many HGV trucks would it take to carry the same load on land?
About 7,700 trucks (200,000 ÷ 26 tonnes per truck ≈ 7,692). If those trucks drove bumper to bumper at 12 metres each, the convoy would stretch about 92 km — roughly Paris to Reims. This is why container ships are civilization's most important logistics tool: one ship does the work of a small city's entire trucking fleet.
5. The Golden Gate Bridge used 83,000 tonnes of steel. A car weighs ~1.4 tonnes. How many cars' worth of steel is in the bridge?
About 59,000 cars. 83,000 ÷ 1.4 ≈ 59,300. Imagine melting down 59,000 cars and reshaping the steel into a bridge. That's the scale of material in one iconic structure — and the Golden Gate is not even close to the largest bridge ever built. The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Japan used over 200,000 tonnes of steel.