HowStuffWorks Engineering Guide  Tags: engines engineering auto cars science science_questions science_explanations aviation buildings structures bridges transportation robotics materials equipment tractors  

Bridges support tremendous weight, span huge distances and all the while withstand the greatest forces of nature. Find out about these engineering feats (as well as some of the flaws).

If you were on the road for the holidays, you probably spent some time staring at the bumper in front of you. Can you imagine a world without gridlock? Learn about some high-tech traffic management.

At first glance, it looks like a high-tech scooter. But people who have tried out the Segway claim that it is much, much more. Find out what's going on inside the Segway and what makes it so unique.

London without the Tube? New York without its underground scene? Atlantans gliding straight from their MARTA stops to the airport? What would life be like without our underground transportation system? Read our article and see cool images here!

While traveling along the Interstate, you may have noticed that truck weigh stations occasionally dot the highway. What are these weigh stations for, and how do they measure the weight of a truck? Find out the answer in this article.

Is there any rhyme or reason to how U.S. interstate highways are numbered?

In the news about the recent accident at a ski resort in Austria, the reporters called the cable car that carried the skiers up the mountain a "funicular railway." What is that and how does it work?

I've noticed that the insides of road and subway tunnels are usually covered in ceramic tile. Is there any particular reason for this or is it simply convention?

Watch this Reuters video showing how the "melody roads" work in some Japanese provinces. Because of specially placed ridges in the road, cars traveling at a certain speed can hear the road literally hum a Japanese tune; it works like the head of a record.

Watch this Reuters videos about paternosters - the predecessor to the elevator. Paternosters are open-faced, continuously moving lifts that go to each floor like a huge ferris wheel. Safety concerns have reduced paternosters to near obscurity.