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Dashrath Manjhi - Carving a path through the hills
Dashrath Manjhi is a man in India who, from 1960 to 1982, is purported to have almost single-handedly carved a 360 foot long, 25 foot deep path through a hill near his village using only hand tools. Toward the end of the project, some of his fellow villagers pitched in.
After his path was completed, his village had much faster access to the nearest hospital. He acted in honor of his wife, who died due to lack of medical care in 1959. Dashrath Manjhi died in 2007 at the age of 73.
Government Involvement
During the project, the leader of the village apparently did not support his efforts, and even filed a complaint against him with the prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi. Later, when other villagers joined him, local officials tried to stop them.
However at a certain point, after media attention, the government apparently finished the job, including building a road. It's not clear exactly how much work was left by that point.