3 Projects Examined Bolt by Bolt

Engineers can be a stubborn lot--tech-savvy dreamers whose passion for a project may increase proportionately with the opposition to it. And in tonight’s Discovery Channel special, “Engineering the Impossible” (9 p.m.), that “Damn the naysayers, full-speed ahead!” spirit is in full bloom.

Three projects of staggering scope, each still pretty much at the drawing-board stage, are covered: the world’s tallest building, the biggest ship and the longest bridge.

The world-class building is being planned for the harbor in Hong Kong as a means of addressing the problem of too many people and too little land. The cone-shaped, residential/commercial hybrid would rise 170 stories and cost about $10 billion.

The proposed $11-billion ship, envisioned as a mile-long floating city of 30,000 well-heeled, full-time residents, would cruise the globe at a leisurely 10 knots. Those on board would take ferries to various ports of call since the behemoth, with a working name of Freedom Ship, wouldn’t fit in most harbors.

The 9-mile-long Gibraltar Bridge, meanwhile, with a cost estimated at $15 billion, would link Spain with Morocco and be part of a road system linking the continents.

The projects’ potential as terrorism magnets are not covered, but possible construction problems and proposed solutions in “Engineering the Impossible” are examined bolt by bolt, which eventually reveals the most daunting challenge: keeping viewer interest afloat for the two-hour running time. On this front, the program ventures into troublesome waters.

The projects are certainly interesting enough, but the slickly produced program piles on the background information to the point of diminishing returns. By the end, it feels like we’ve been watching the world’s longest special.