Norway is working to create the world’s first “submerged floating bridges,” suspended from surface pontoons and engineered to span its vast network of wide and deep fjords. A system of truss-framed tubes hung 100 feet below the surface will be wide enough for two traffic lanes. They will also be easier, faster and cheaper to construct than underground tunnels or over-water bridges, at least in the complex sites for which they are being planned.

“This idea of Norway’s is sort of an intermediate technology of things that have been done before,” said Henry Petroski, professor of civil engineering at Duke University. Lessons are being taken from offshore oil platforms, existing tunnel systems and floating bridge designs and recombined in novel ways. “For an engineer working on this structure, it’s like being on the Discovery Channel every day.”

Norway already has over a 1,000 traffic tunnels (including a few dozen subsurface ones), but anchoring these to the ground in deep fjords is impractical in many cases. Also, long spans mean more complex engineering (and higher costs) for surface bridges. The nation currently relies heavily on a system of less-efficient ferry routes that can be unpredictable and impacted by weather.

Floating bridges on the surfaces of water bodies are common in places like Seattle, where a combination of length and depth makes traditional bridges more difficult and less cost-effective. Essentially, underwater tunnel bridges would work the same way, except the pontoon supports will reside above rather than below the roadways. Of course, engineers in this case hope to avoid a disaster like Seattle had – parts of the original bridge sank while it was under construction.

Underwater bridges also have advantages for nautical traffic, allowing ships to pass over them and between surface buoys. Normal bridges (unless they can be raised and lowered) create long-term height caps for the kinds of sea vessels that can pass below them. Pontoons on the surface hold up the tubes below while connecting trusses keep them stable. The structure might also be bolted to the bedrock below in places, depending on depths.

So far, the country has committed $25 billion to pursuing this project as part of a nationwide overhaul, starting with an analysis of wind and waves to determine how best to stabilize this new type of subsurface bridge. Initial plans call for a first tunnel in the network to span the 4,300-feet deep, 3,300-feet wide Sognefjord.

Below the streets of Hobart, Tasmania’s capital and most populated city, lie a network of centuries-old runoff tunnels that are slowly being turned into the backdrop for a growing body of collaborative (and sometimes creepy) art.

Urbexography (previously featured in a tale of Grimm Abandonments) has gone underground this time to capture the current state of the tunnel system and the strangely fascinating works that populate it at the present time.

One series in particular may be best avoided after dark: an array of plaster-cast doll heads, a tribute to catacombs lined with human skulls found elsewhere in the world.

Artist Shaun McGowan is behind much of the work. “I’d love to keep doing this project for years to come,” he told The Mercury. “It’s the opposite of gallery and studio work. There’s no barrier around it saying that other people can’t contribute or break it or do whatever they like. I love that collaborative nature.”

Remarkably, many of his interventions have so far remained intact, drawing tourists and thrill seekers by day and night to these once-forgotten waterways. McGowan does not expect any particular piece to last, however, and accepts that change is inevitable and the place will always be a series of works in progress. Meanwhile, see more photographs of this amazing and evolving set of spaces on Facebook.

Serving as a bright and bold last-chance warning for vehicles about to enter tunnels, this wall of water painted turns into a kind of hovering hologram designed to STOP impending drivers from creating or compounding tunnel disaster situations.

Dubbed Softstop and deployed first in Australia, the liquid signage does no damage should a car or truck pass through, but still provides an impossible-to-ignore signal for drivers. It is used to warn off too-tall trucks and deter Sydney Harbor Tunnel entry in cases of fires or crashes going on inside the tunnel.

This solution came about after conventional signage failed to warn off drivers in an emergency. “We had a fire in the tunnel,” explains Harbor Tunnel GM Bob Allen, “motorists ignored the warning lights and signs and continued driving towards the fire. These drivers exposed themselves to smoke and toxic fumes from the fire and then to compound the situation they turned around (in a one way tunnel) and drove back out of the tunnel against incoming traffic.”

The wall-of-water solution came about as a collaboration between Laservision, a creative technology firm that designs architectural lighting, and a pump manufacturer: Grundfos.

Inspired by detailed three-dimensional maps of Hong Kong subway stations, a New York artist has painstakingly documented and rendered a gorgeous series of helpful underground diagrams.

Exiting a subway network can be a disorienting experience. While stair signage and sidewalk compasses can help, anyone navigating based on landmarks or other surface features is lost. Project Subway NYC by Candy Chan is a step in the right direction. Using pen, paper and a camera, she meticulously recorded directions and relative positions of tracks and lines, referring to Google and MTA resources as a baseline.

She then took the results into AutoCAD, verified those drawings in person, and proceeded to model and render the results using Rhino, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to produce 3D maps. Her explorations have helped her identify pain points for navigating these multilevel stations.

From CityLab: “The first batch includes five stops along Broadway: Columbus Circle, Times Square, Herald Square, Madison Square, and Union Square. But Chan hopes to do more, in Manhattan as well as in the outer boroughs. Since the project just launched two weeks ago, she’s gauging people’s reactions to decide which stations to explore next.”

Still, 3D maps may not in themselves be a solution – murals, screens, signage or other indicators tied to visual landmarks from the world above would be a welcome addition for those who cannot read English or simply navigate using different means and methods.

Already infamous for its curved facade that ignited fires in adjacent buildings and melted nearby cars basking in its reflected sunlight, the Walkie Talkie skyscraper in London is now being blamed for toppling signs, overturning food carts and even knocking passers-by off their feet. Dubbed ‘Walkie Scorchie’ as well as the ‘Death Ray’ during its last public debacle, critics may need a new name for this building more suited to its fresh source of infamy.

Local business owners, employees and residents have reported a dramatic increase in downdraughts since the completion of the 36-story downtown structure, suggesting its completion coincides with an upsurge of urban wind tunnel effects on surrounding streets.

A worker at a local retail outlet told The Times: “It has only really been windy since the Walkie Talkie has been here. When they were building it and there were the building works going on, it was fine. But ever since they’ve completed it, the wind really picked up.”

A temporary screen erected at street level, eventually replaced with permanent shades hung from its concave side, solved the previous heat-generating problems tied to light reflection; it is unclear if something analogous can be done to address current wind-related concerns. For now, local food trolleys have been instructed to carry warning signs indicating they could tumble over and crush customers or pedestrians, a very incomplete and unsatisfactory solution for all potentially impacted parties.

Meanwhile, officials suggest there will be stricter reviews for new construction. According to Gwyn Richards, the City of London Corporation’s head of design, “The wind outcome at street level experienced post-construction on a number of projects differs somewhat to the conditions we were expecting from the one outlined in the planning application wind assessments. This is why we are asking for an independent verification of the wind studies on a number of new schemes to ensure as rigorous and resilient an approach as possible.” (images via Matt Brown and Duncan H).