San Antonio College Library

President Xi Jinping of China calls his nation's sprawling belt and road initiative the "project of the century," but many challenges remain.

In less than a century, man has created a glut of traffic on our roadways, railways, airways and seaways - traffic that must be controlled, managed, and regulated. These structures were built to ease congestion and make travel easier, but humans keep expanding to fill the space made by existing routes. Are new high-tech intelligent transportation systems the solution?

Aviation has made exploration of previously dangerous and prohibitive areas safe and expedient. On this episode of Century of Flight travel with land, sea, and aerial pioneers on the Amazon River, through the Australian Outback, and over the Poles and Mount Everest.

In 2018, Italy's Morandi Bridge collapsed, killing 43 people. For 50 years, the iconic bridge had withstood the elements--and stress from ever-increasing traffic. NOVA investigates what went wrong and explores other bridge collapses across the United States. How can new engineering techniques make bridges safer and prevent such tragedies?

The Eastern United States was crowded with immigrants, while the West held the tantalizing promise of vast riches and gold--between the two lay a harsh wilderness. A transcontinental railway was needed to avoid dangerous wagon travel that few survived. Two corporate giants were pitched against each other in a race to join the East and West Coasts of the young nation.

There's more to Norway than fresh seafood and majestic fjords. A leader in shipbuilding, we'll go behind the scenes to witness how the Norwegian company is changing the way ocean vessels are made. Ulstein X-Bow has developed a revolutionary new hull that's designed to provide a smoother ride for cargo and a safer journey for the crew. Ski flying takes ski jumping to a whole new level, and construction crews are hard at work building the world's highest,...

Eleven miles out to sea off the coast of Scotland, the deadly Bell Rock Reef had terrorized seamen for centuries. This is the story of young engineer Robert Stevenson who dreamed of building a lighthouse on the treacherous rock though it meant going up against the Westminster establishment, distinguished engineers, greedy financiers--and above all, the elements.

This is the story of industrial expansion and decline along the Erie Canal, in the words of workers in steel, grain, textiles and shipping.

When French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps returned triumphantly to Paris after completing the Suez Canal in 1869, he was hailed as a national hero. Thousands raced to invest in his next, even bolder scheme: to build a great canal across Panama. His dream would cut a swathe across the South American continent and unite the vast oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific. Fortunes seemed assured as shipping would no longer have to face the terrors of Cape Horn...

Poland's long, tumultuous history makes it a fascinating country to visit. Follow a team of detectives in the Sowie Mountains as they try to crack the mystery of a huge underground maze of tunnels built by the Nazis. See bomb disposal experts find and detonate WWII explosives that are still littered throughout the country. Other stories include Poland's rush to complete six new stadiums in time for the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, a company that makes...