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06-27-2006, 04:49 AM
Toronto's CN Tower celebrating 30th birthday
CTV.ca News Staff
The world's tallest freestanding structure and Canada's most famous landmark is celebrating its 30th birthday.
Since opening to the public on June 26, 1976, the CN Tower in Toronto has been a magnet for tourists, attracting nearly two million people each year, half from places outside of Canada, officials estimate.
The 553-metre engineering marvel marked its birthday with a large outdoor celebration Monday afternoon which included a barbecue, discounted rides up the tower and a concert by Canadian rock band Lighthouse.
A giant sky-crane helicopter re-enacted the moment when the final piece was lifted into place Sunday night to commemorate the tower's completion.
The CN Tower is recognized as one of the modern wonders of the world by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Built at an original cost of $63 million, the tower acts not only as a tourist hotspot, but the structure plays an important role in the telecommunications field for which it was built, as it transmits television and radio signals.
The CN Tower was designed to solve communications problems caused by the skyscrapers lining Toronto's landscape in the 1970s. The buildings, which hovered over transmission towers, caused poor reception for televisions and radios in the city.
That's when officials decided to build a massive structure to tower high above everything else, said CN Tower general manager Jack Robinson.
"Today, they tell us it's the best radio and television signal anywhere in the planet," Robinson told CTV Newsnet.
Those who had a part in designing and building the CN Tower didn't think it would reign as the world's tallest for as long as it has, but that record could be surpassed when the current Burg tower in Dubai is completed.
Officials of that structure won't reveal the target height, but promise it will shatter any existing record. The tower is expected to top 700 metres. It passed 50 storeys this month (the CN Tower is 181 storeys tall).
Robinson is realistic about a new structure surpassing the CN Tower in the next few years.
"Records are meant to be broken," he said.
"I guess when they built (the CN Tower), they said, 'Don't expect it to be the world's tallest in eight or nine years.' Well, that was 30 years ago, so we still are.
"But you're going to hear stories of large towers being built around the world. Some are fact, some are fiction."
A look at other towering world landmarks:
Ostankino Tower in Moscow, 537 metres (which the CN Tower surpassed to take the record);
Taipai 101, 508 metres;
Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, 468 metres; and
Milad Tower in Tehran, 435 metres.
Some interesting facts about the CN Tower:
Construction began on Feb. 6, 1973, and finished about 40 months later;
More than 1,500 workers laboured five days a week, 24 hours a day to build it;
The structure was built to withstand an earthquake of 8.5 on the Richter scale
It can withstand winds of up to 416 km/h;
Lightning strikes the tower about 75 times each year;
Its glass-cased elevators travel 22 km/h to reach the observation deck in 58 seconds;
On a clear day, visitors on the observation deck can see more than 160 kilometres (past Niagara Falls and across Lake Ontario to New York State);
The tower's glass floor section 113 stories above the ground can withstand the weight of 14 adult hippos; and
The 360 Restaurant makes a full rotation every 72 minutes.
CTV.ca News Staff
The world's tallest freestanding structure and Canada's most famous landmark is celebrating its 30th birthday.
Since opening to the public on June 26, 1976, the CN Tower in Toronto has been a magnet for tourists, attracting nearly two million people each year, half from places outside of Canada, officials estimate.
The 553-metre engineering marvel marked its birthday with a large outdoor celebration Monday afternoon which included a barbecue, discounted rides up the tower and a concert by Canadian rock band Lighthouse.
A giant sky-crane helicopter re-enacted the moment when the final piece was lifted into place Sunday night to commemorate the tower's completion.
The CN Tower is recognized as one of the modern wonders of the world by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Built at an original cost of $63 million, the tower acts not only as a tourist hotspot, but the structure plays an important role in the telecommunications field for which it was built, as it transmits television and radio signals.
The CN Tower was designed to solve communications problems caused by the skyscrapers lining Toronto's landscape in the 1970s. The buildings, which hovered over transmission towers, caused poor reception for televisions and radios in the city.
That's when officials decided to build a massive structure to tower high above everything else, said CN Tower general manager Jack Robinson.
"Today, they tell us it's the best radio and television signal anywhere in the planet," Robinson told CTV Newsnet.
Those who had a part in designing and building the CN Tower didn't think it would reign as the world's tallest for as long as it has, but that record could be surpassed when the current Burg tower in Dubai is completed.
Officials of that structure won't reveal the target height, but promise it will shatter any existing record. The tower is expected to top 700 metres. It passed 50 storeys this month (the CN Tower is 181 storeys tall).
Robinson is realistic about a new structure surpassing the CN Tower in the next few years.
"Records are meant to be broken," he said.
"I guess when they built (the CN Tower), they said, 'Don't expect it to be the world's tallest in eight or nine years.' Well, that was 30 years ago, so we still are.
"But you're going to hear stories of large towers being built around the world. Some are fact, some are fiction."
A look at other towering world landmarks:
Ostankino Tower in Moscow, 537 metres (which the CN Tower surpassed to take the record);
Taipai 101, 508 metres;
Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, 468 metres; and
Milad Tower in Tehran, 435 metres.
Some interesting facts about the CN Tower:
Construction began on Feb. 6, 1973, and finished about 40 months later;
More than 1,500 workers laboured five days a week, 24 hours a day to build it;
The structure was built to withstand an earthquake of 8.5 on the Richter scale
It can withstand winds of up to 416 km/h;
Lightning strikes the tower about 75 times each year;
Its glass-cased elevators travel 22 km/h to reach the observation deck in 58 seconds;
On a clear day, visitors on the observation deck can see more than 160 kilometres (past Niagara Falls and across Lake Ontario to New York State);
The tower's glass floor section 113 stories above the ground can withstand the weight of 14 adult hippos; and
The 360 Restaurant makes a full rotation every 72 minutes.
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