Aerial shots show the progress and scale of $1 trillion giga-project ‘The Line’ in Saudi Arabia

  • The Line is one of the most ambitious man-made projects ever
  • The horizontally-laid city will extend for 170 km and it’ll be 200 meters wide
  • The project costs around $1 trillion

Published on Feb 08, 2024 at 3:34 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis

Last updated on Mar 13, 2024 at 1:30 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones

Aerial shots show the progress and scale of $1 trillion giga-project ‘The Line’ in Saudi Arabia

Construction of The Line, the massive $1 trillion project Saudi Arabia is working on, is well underway.

And new drone footage shows how fast progress is being made.

And it’s properly impressive.

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The call it The Line because it is literally a ‘line’ that extends horizontally for miles across the desert.

The goal is to complete the project by 2030, and construction is well underway.

But we shouldn’t let the name fool us into thinking this is going to be a ‘thin’ line because it isn’t.

Designed by Santa Monica-based firm Morphosis Architects, the structure will be 105 miles (170 kilometers) long, 500 meters high and 200 meters wide.

It almost looks like a horizontally laid-down skyscraper, in a way, except it costs more – a lot more – than a skyscraper.

The goal is to build a city that can fully support itself and accommodate up to nine million residents.

That equates to 8,350 acres or 13.5 square miles, making The Line larger than the Principality of Monaco and Gibraltar combined.

The city will include residential areas as well as commercial areas, along with its own stadium, a yacht marina, and other facilities like shopping malls and office spaces.

The Line will also have its own public transport system, making it possible to travel from one end of the city to the other in just 20 minutes.

The Line is part of a much bigger project called NEOM, which also includes a smart city, a mountain resort, and a water and hydrogen company.

It’s an ambitious plan, and an expensive one at that, because the entire NEOM project is estimated to cost $1 trillion.

The Line alone will cost $500 billion.

As part of the same project, Saudi Arabia is also building an upside-down skyscraper.

This too, just like The Line, is totally unheard of.

Put simply, the skyscraper will be built starting from the top, which is located at the peak of a mountain, and it will extend downwards, inside the mountain.

Last, but certainly not least, the Saudi Crown Prince is also planning a cube-shaped city.

It is going to be one of the largest man-made structures in the world.

Alessandro is an automotive journalist with 10 years of experience covering supercars, automotive history, emerging vehicle technology, and luxury transportation. He wrote the first article published on SupercarBlondie.com when the website launched in 2022 and has since built a reputation for insightful reporting across the automotive and transportation industries. His expertise is grounded in hands-on experience. Alessandro has driven every Tesla model ever produced, from the original Roadster to the Cybertruck, and regularly covers the latest developments in electric vehicles and automotive innovation. His passion for transportation extends beyond cars, he has even flown a Boeing 787 Dreamliner simulator in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His reporting spans everything from classic American muscle cars and rare automotive discoveries to luxury yachts, private aircraft, high-end watches, and cutting-edge vehicle technology. Known for his deep knowledge of automotive history and ability to uncover the stories behind iconic vehicles, Alessandro brings readers a blend of historical context, technical expertise, and first-hand experience.