Engineering Challenges in Building the World’s Tallest Flagpole

By: | July 2nd, 2015

Standing Tall & Strong

The tallest flagpole in North America is the Acuity flagpole at Acuity Insurance headquarters in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and it is visible from 9 miles away.

The pole is 400 feet tall, made of 353,000 pounds of steel and capable of flying a 7,200 ft.², four-story tall American flag weighing 220 pounds. The US flag pole required 680 yds³ of concrete for its foundation, 500 gallons of paint and is 11 feet in diameter at the base tapering to 5 1/2 feet at the top. But this American flagpole isn’t the tallest in the world by a long shot.

The world’s tallest flagpole, in Saudi Arabia, is 557 feet (169.7m) tall and is known as the Jeddah Flagpole. When completed in 2004 it supplanted the flagpole in the capital of Tajikistan which is 541 feet (164.89m) tall.

The engineers who are building these tall flagpoles are Mark Summers and David Chambers from Trident Support Corporation, which is based in Dubai. According to Summers, flagpoles of this size range from $5-$10 million each.

The following video shows the Acuity 400 foot flagpole being erected:

The Saudi Arabia flagpole is featured in the following video:

David Russell Schilling

David enjoys writing about high technology and its potential to make life better for all who inhabit planet earth.

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