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This week, legal wrangling added more uncertainty to the project’s ever-expanding timeline, with the group of companies building the line asking for a court’s permission to stop construction.

If 12-plus years seems like a long time to build a rail system down a pc28����street, it is. Here are some projects — and some truly epic human and engineering feats — that took less time to complete than the construction of the Eglinton LRT.

CN Tower: Three years

Construction crews started working on the CN Tower on Feb. 6, 1973. The tower was finished on April 2, 1975 and opened to the public on June 26, 1976.

Landing a man on the moon: Eight years

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy : “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”

Apollo 11 launched on July 16, 1969 and landed on the moon four days later on July 20.

The nuclear bomb: Six years

On Aug. 2, 1939 Albert Einstein wrote a warning to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt that Nazis were working on the Atomic bomb. That soon led to the creation of the Manhattan Project. Six years after Einstein sent his letter, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945 killing 140,000 people during the explosion and from the after-effects.

Canadian Pacific Railway: Four years

The was incorporated on Feb. 16, 1881 and construction later started on the railway. On Nov. 7, 1885 the eastern and western parts of the CPR met in B.C. and the last spike was driven into the track, marking the end of the transcontinental railway. The work was treacherous, much of it given to poorly paid Chinese workers, hundreds of whom died.

Hadrian’s Wall: Six years

In 122 AD, Emperor Hadrian came to Britain and he ordered a wall be built to keep “hostile tribes” out of the Roman Empire’s northern frontier.

Construction of the 118-km wall stretching across rolling hills and fields was completed six years later. The stone and turf barrier measured about four metres high and about two metres thick.

The Roman Colosseum: Eight years

One of the greatest pieces of Roman architecture ever built took eight years to complete. and construction started in 72 AD. According to , most of the work was done by Jewish slaves.

Panama Canal: 10 years

An agreement between the U.S. and Panama was negotiated, granting the U.S access to a wide . The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was ratified in the U.S. on Feb. 23, 1904 and the Canal was The official opening on the Panama Canal was on Aug. 15, 1914.

The London Underground (first line): Three years

In 1863, the opened in London between Paddington and Farringdon, with six stations along the route.

Hoover Dam: Five years

started in 1930 and the dam was completed in 1935.

The Channel Tunnel: Six years

The Channel Tunnel — often referred to as the Chunnel — is a 50 km-long undersea tunnel connecting southern England with northern France. Construction started in 1988 and was completed in 1993 with Eurostar Services starting in Nov. 1994.

The 407 Highway: 10 years

Construction on the Highway 407 started in August 1987, marked by a sod-turning ceremony by politicians on Aug. 4, 1987. The highway opened to motorists on June 7, 1997 — six months behind schedule.

Marmaray tunnel: Nine years

Construction on Istanbul’s Marmaray tunnel connecting Asia to Europe beneath the Bosporus strait started in 2004 and was completed on Oct. 29, 2013, according to

War and Peace: Six years

Leo Tolstoy wrote the historical novel War and Peace over six years. It’s known as a masterwork of

The next records to fall to the LRT?

Here are a couple of epic achievements that took — at least so far — longer than construction on the Eglinton LRT.

The empire of Alexander the Great: 13 years

Named after his father’s death in 336 BC, Alexander the Great travelled from Greece to Egypt to India building an unrivalled empire over three continents.

The Big Dig: 14 years

The Boston underground highway project stands as the modern-day epitome of the sprawling megaproject. Construction started in 1991 and, dogged by , it was largely completed by early 2006, at a final cost of over $15 billion.

A race to the finish

The Winds of Winter: Ongoing

Who will finish first: pc28����with its LRT or George R.R. Martin? The sci-fi writer’s last work in his A Song of Ice and Fire series was published in 2011, the same year the Eglinton LRT project started. Martin once said he expected the next book would take . He is still going.

— with files from Star Archives