There are said to be more than 156 kilometers of double track checker plate steel creating drivable roads in the sand and more than 4, 000 hollow steel floating pontoons supporting 18 temporary bridges spanning the Ganga and Yamuna.
Although feet were designed to walk barefoot on Earth's natural surfaces (grass, sand or gravel), they were not prepared to endure the concrete, asphalt and steel that covers so many landscapes today, Thompson said.