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Bering Strait crossing

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Template:Future bridge Template:Future tunnel

Possible route of Intercontinental Peace Bridge across the Bering Strait.

The Bering Strait bridge or Bering Strait tunnel is a proposed/envisioned bridge or tunnel spanning the Bering Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka, Russia, and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, United States. The name The Intercontinental Peace Bridge has been used in some proposals. Another name suggested is Eurasia-America Transport Link.[1] Such a bridge or tunnel would provide an overland connection linking Asia, Africa and Europe with North America and South America. The most recent proposal calls for construction of a tunnel.

The Bering Strait could be spanned by a series of three bridges via the Diomede Islands for a total distance of about 80 km (50 miles). The two long spans would be comparable in length to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the current longest bridge.

History

The concept of an overland connection crossing the Bering Strait goes back at least a century. William Gilpin, first governor of the Colorado Territory, envisioned a vast "Cosmopolitan Railway" in 1890 linking the entire world via a series of railways. Two years later Joseph Strauss, who went on to design over 400 bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge, put forward the first proposal for a Bering Strait railroad bridge in his senior thesis [citation needed]. The project was presented to the government of the Russian Empire, but it was rejected.[2]

Interest was renewed in 1943 with the completion of the Alaska Highway linking the remote territory of Alaska with the Continental United States. Ambitious Alaskans envisioned the highway continuing to link with Nome near the Bering Strait, but no serious proposals for a bridge were made.

In 1968 engineer T. Y. Lin made a feasibility study of a Bering Strait bridge and estimated a cost more than $4 billion. Like Gilpin, Lin envisioned the project as a symbol of international cooperation and unity. Lin also proposed, among other bridges, a second massive connection spanning the Strait of Gibraltar. During the Cold War, however, the concept met mostly with cool reception. Lin died in 2003.

Several others have advocated a Bering Strait bridge including Russian railway engineer Anatoly Cherkasov soon after the end of the Cold War.

Challenges

Technical challenges

The route would lie just south of the Arctic Circle, subject to long, dark winters and extreme weather (average winter lows −20°C with possible lows approaching −50°C.). This bridge would cost billions of dollars. maintenance of any exposed roadway would be difficult and closures frequent. Even maintenance of enclosed roadways and pipelines could also be affected by winter weather. Ice breakup after each winter is violent and would destroy normal bridge piers. Specially shaped massive piers along the ocean floor would be needed to keep the bridge stable.

The bridge would require thousands of kilometers of new road and/or track over extremely harsh terrain through the wilderness of Alaska and Siberia. The nearest railheads are Fairbanks, Alaska or Jackson, BC on the Dease Lake branch of CN on the east and Yakutsk on the west. Russia is in the process of completing a rail connection from the Baikal Amur Mainline to Yakutsk. This may prove to be less of a problem, with a binational study going on to see if a rail link from Jackson, BC and Dease Lake, BC or Fort St. John, BC to Fairbanks, Alaska (via Whitehorse, Yukon) is feasible [3].

The United States and Canada use American standard gauge (4 feet, 8.5 inches wide) rails, while Russia uses Russian broad gauge (5 feet wide) tracks, a break-of-gauge, and this would have to be addressed. A dual-gauge track network has been proposed, as those are used in some areas of Australia, whose rail network is split into different gauges. A cheaper solution is variable gauge axles or bogie exchange, as used at several places in the world already.

Environmental opposition

Both the Alaskan and Siberian wilderness areas are the focus of major conservation efforts. Access roads would cross thousands of kilometers of these areas. The bridge itself would cross a major whale migration route.

Similar concerns have arisen over the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and oil and natural gas drilling on the Alaska North Slope, which remains highly controversial. This reason being because if any problems occur during the building of the bridge and oil or natural gas is spilled into the strait then it would be devastating.

There have been long discussions about a highway for the benefit of residents in western Alaska, but environmental concerns and fears of undue cultural influence from a higher number of visitors to Eskimo villages have obstructed these plans[citation needed].

Economic costs and benefits

The Bering Strait area is extremely remote and sparsely populated. Air is the main mode of travel in the area, and across the strait there are very few chartered flights by small private airlines such as Bering Air, located in Nome. There is no existing car or rail ferry service as there are no roads or railways for it to serve. So far, tourism in Chukotka is hindered by the bureaucracy. A visa is needed, then a special visit permit because of the military restrictions. This must be lifted to get any amount of travel by air or boat. A road and a car ferry would be beneficial too. When there is a reasonable amount of travel, one could consider a bridge.

Based on the price per mile of other long bridges, the cost for a road bridge itself can be estimated at $15-25 billion[citation needed]. (For example, the Confederation Bridge cost US$180 million per mile). Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering estimates the cost of a highway, double track rail and pipelines, including continuations on land, at $105 billion. This excludes the cost of new roads and railways to reach the bridge.[4]

International bridges and tunnels in Europe have been financed by loans and road fees only, since there is a political principle that international travel should not be paid by tax payers. Possible sources of these fees include container traffic between Russia/China and Canada/U.S., which could make the transit much more quickly by rail than by crossing the Pacific Ocean, and passenger traffic from as far away as Portugal to Canada and the U.S. A bridge which also carried pipelines would earn revenues from the use of those pipelines. Potential income from these sources is unknown.

Alternatives

Assuming that the necessary access routes are in place, alternatives to a Bering Strait bridge include:

  • Car/rail ferry service in summer months.
  • Car/rail ferry service around the year, requires special top-class ice-capable ferries, and ice breaker assistance.
  • An immersed tube or tunnel.

Bering Strait tunnel

The tunnel would be part of a railway joining Yakutsk, the capital of the Russian Yakutia republic, with the western coast of Alaska.

As of 2007, the 53.85 km Seikan Tunnel is the longest tunnel of this type.

The TKM-World Link is a planned link between Siberia and Alaska providing oil, natural gas, and electricity to the United States and Canada from Russia. The plan includes provisions to build a 64 mile (103 km) tunnel under the Bering Strait which, if completed, would become the longest tunnel in the world. The tunnel should be profitable 13-15 years after construction.

History

Tsar Nicholas II approved a planned tunnel in 1905. These hopes were dashed when Russia became involved in World War I[citation needed].

Plan

The Russian plan for the TKM-World Link involves creating a 6,000 km (3,700 mi) route through Siberia to facilitate economic ties to the U.S. A pipeline will be created to transport natural gas and oil from Siberia[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ A Transcontinental Eurasia-America Transport Link via the Bering Strait, at the 1st International Conference "Megaprojects of the Russian East"
  2. ^ An exerpt from memoirs of the Russian Empire Minister of Land Forces Aleksandr Rediger Template:Ru icon
  3. ^ AlaskaCanadaRail.org
  4. ^ Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering
  • "The Bering Strait Crossing" by James A. Oliver out now in paperback ISBN 0954699564". Information Architects. 2006 & 2007 (Revised). {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • "Russians dream of tunnel to Alaska". BBC News. 2001.
  • "Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, a Link to Alaska". Bloomberg. April 18 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • "Russia Considering Tunnel Between Asia and North America". VOA. April 19 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

References


External links

Template:Wikipedia videos/Bering Strait bridge

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