Rising traffic congestion is a huge problem all over the world, especially in countries with large populations and an increasing number of vehicle owners. In these nations, engineers and infrastructure developers face an enormous challenge to cut down on gridlock and keep traffic flowing smoothly.
One of the countries most affected by congestion is China. According to the Ministry of Public Security’s traffic bureau, China boasted 300.3 million registered vehicles at the end of March 2017 – up from 194 million the previous year. Just to put that into perspective, the last major census conducted in the US revealed a population of 324 million.
Developers and city planners have had to become fairly creative to solve the traffic problem. Self-driving cars have been presented as one solution, but the silver bullet (pretty much everywhere) seems to be implementing more efficient and affordable public transport systems.
Recently, Chinese company TEB came up with the idea of creating a fleet of buses that could drive over traffic stuck in gridlock. These traffic-straddling buses, or ‘transit elevated buses’, would glide on rails laid on either side of traffic lanes, ensuring that public transport commuters would never be late for work on account of a traffic jam. Presented at the 19th China Beijing International Hi-Tech Expo in 2016, TEB’s goal was to transport up to 1 400 commuters for just 20% of the cost of an underground transit system. Now that’s some big thinking.
Unfortunately, the project had to be scrapped due to the fact that the prototype couldn’t navigate China’s current road infrastructure, thanks to its narrow corners and proliferation of foot bridges. Oops!

Sometimes thinking big may mean considering the very small. Sea urchin spines may prove to be the inspiration behind the next generation of fractureresistant cement, believe it or not.
Researchers at Germany’s University of Konstanz, in collaboration with the University of Stuttgart, carefully cut a three-micrometer, bar-shaped structure out of the nanostructured sea urchin spines. This micro-structure was then bent using a micro-manipulator. As soon as it was released, the micro-structure sprang back to its original position.
The researchers found that the brick-wall-style architecture of the calcite sea urchin spines enabled the microstructure to resist pressures of up to 200 megapascals, which is astounding considering that calcite is commonly accepted to be a brittle material. The concrete commonly used today is only able to resist 2-5 megapascals of pressure.
These spines’ ability to withstand such extreme pressures is due to their architecture, which, when observed at the nano-level, is comparable to the work of a mason – with each layer of brick being held in place by mortar. The layers of hard and soft material in such a wall give the structure its strength; the layering allows the transfer of any energy that hits the wall to be absorbed by the soft layers, reducing the risk of cracks forming on the harder layers.
Theoretically, this means that columns constructed using a synthesised sea urchin spine concrete could reach heights of 8 000m – 10 times higher than the world’s tallest building! By comparison, a steel column can only reach a height of 3 000m, because of its weight.

If you spend any amount of time commuting to work via a highway, you’ll know that the scenery leaves a lot to be desired. Aside from massive billboards proclaiming new and delicious fast food, there’s not much to see on a lengthy freeway drive. But in China, commuters are occasionally treated to some interestingly out-of-place architecture. There are a few roads that sport apartment buildings right in the middle! They’re called ‘nail houses’ – so named because they stick out of the landscape like nails that couldn’t be hammered down. These structures are left stranded on construction sites or surrounded by China’s steadily growing infrastructure. Nail houses are the highly visible result of owners and developers disagreeing about what constitutes fair compensation for their property. If a deadlock of this type seems unbreakable, developers simply excavate or build around these dwellings. China now boasts quite a few of these houses in its urban centres – and a few of them have even become tourist attractions. The nail house phenomenon, though extremely odd, shouldn’t be particularly surprising. According to a report in 2016 by the McKinsey Global Institute, China spends more on its growing infrastructure annually than both North America and Western Europe combined. The march of progress is apparently so relentless that a few determined homeowners and shopkeepers certainly won’t stand in its way. That said, the stubbornness of China’s property owners has led to some genuinely interesting results. Imagine passing a man mowing his lawn on a traffic island, or someone sunbathing in the middle of the highway on your way to work.