Veluwemeer Aqueduct, Netherlands
© Frolova_Elena/Getty Image
We're halfway there. It's Halfway Day!
Today is Halfway Day, which means we are halfway through 2023! Halfway Day begins at noon on July 2 during a regular 365-day year, and at midnight on July 2 during a leap year—so this year, we're celebrating at lunchtime.
Dutch engineers don’t do things by halves. Pictured here is the Veluwemeer Aqueduct in the Netherlands. The project, completed in 2002, used an unusual engineering approach. Rather than a drawbridge or ferry to get cars over Lake Veluwemeer, engineers instead built this 'water bridge' to carry boats across the road. The N302 is a busy highway connecting the mainland to the province of Flevoland, and thanks to this design, both road and waterborne traffic can keep flowing freely. The aqueduct also has pedestrian crossings on both sides, so everyone benefits. No half measures were taken in designing an eye-catching transport solution that works for everyone.
Tea garden at Yangjiatang Village, Songyang County, China
Paper flags strung over a street in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland
Aerial view of Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia
English National Ballet performing 'The Nutcracker'
Temple of Hathor, Dendera Temple Complex, Qena, Egypt
Aerial view of the Grand Canal and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy
The Roman amphitheater of Italica, near Seville, Spain
