This article or section contains information about a planned or proposed future bridge. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the bridge approaches, and more information becomes available on it.

Possible route of Intercontinental Peace Bridge across the Bering Strait.

The Bering Strait bridge is a proposed/envisioned bridge spanning the Bering Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Siberia, Russia, and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, United States. The name The Intercontinental Peace Bridge has been used for some of the proposals. 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). Although the longest bridge of the three could be in excess of 40 km (25 miles) — compare to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the current longest bridge, comprising two spans of 23.86 and 23.87 miles each — such a bridge would provide an overland connection linking Asia, Africa and Europe with North America and South America. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Image File history File links Bridge_drawing. ... This article is about the edifice (including an index to articles on specific bridge types). ... Image File history File links BeringBridge. ... Image File history File links BeringBridge. ... For other uses, see Bering Strait (disambiguation). ... Cape Dezhnev or Cape Dezhnyov (Russian: ) is a cape that forms the most eastern point of Asia, on Chukchi Peninsula in the Bering Strait, in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. ... Siberian Federal District (darker red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) Udachnaya pipe Siberia (Russian: , Sibir; Tatar: ) is a vast region of Russia constituting almost all of Northern Asia. ... Cape Prince of Wales (65°3547N, 168°0505W) is the westernmost point in the Americas. ... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  Ranked 1st  - Total 663,267 sq mi (1,717,855 km²)  - Width 808 miles (1,300 km)  - Length 1,479 miles (2,380 km)  - % water 13. ... Satellite photo of the Bering Strait, with the Diomede Islands at center. ... Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Heading south on the Causeway toward New Orleans The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway consists of two parallel bridges that are the longest bridges in the world by total length. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ...

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, put forward the first proposal for a Bering Strait railroad bridge in his senior thesis, said to have been massive but ludicrous. Strauss was, however, the chief designer of the Golden Gate Bridge. For other uses, see Bering Strait (disambiguation). ... William Gilpin William Gilpin (October 4, 1813–1894) was a 19th century U.S. explorer, politician, land speculator, and futurist writer about the American West. ... The Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico territories in 1860 The Colorado Territory was a historic, organized territory of the United States that existed between 1861 and 1876. ... Cosmopolitan Railway was a global railroad network proposed in 1890 by William Gilpin, first territorial governor of Colorado, in his treatise Cosmopolitan Railway: Compacting and Fusing Together All the Worlds Continents. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... Joseph Baermann Strauss (January 9, 1870 - May 16, 1938) was an American engineer and designer. ... The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening into the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. ...

Interest was renewed in 1943 (but no serious proposals) 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. 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 more than simply a bridge but 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, and Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon as part of a proposed global highway and rail system. Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Map of Alaska Highway (in red) The Alaska Highway, also the Alaskan Highway, Alaska-Canadian Highway, and the Alcan Highway, runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. ... Depending on usage, the term continental United States can refer to either: the 48 contiguous states plus the District of Columbia; or the 48 contiguous states plus the District of Columbia and Alaska. ... Nome is a city located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast of Norton Sound in the Nome Census Area, Alaska. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Tung-Yen Lin (林同炎, pinyin: Lín Tóngyán) (November 14, 1912 - November 15, 2003) was a world-renowned civil engineer best known as the pioneer of standardizing the use of prestressed concrete. ... The Strait of Gibraltar as seen from space. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Sun Myung Moon in 2005. ...

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.). Winter maintenance would be difficult and closures frequent. Ice breakup after each winter is violent and would tear up normal bridge piers; specially shaped and truly massive piers along the ocean floor would be necessary to keep this bridge stable. Maintenance would be staggering. Furthermore, 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 railhead is Fairbanks, Alaska on the east. As for the west, Russia is in the process of completing a rail connection from the Baikal Amur Mainline to Yakutsk. Complicating matter further, special trains would have to be built to run on both American standard gauge (4 feet, 8.5 inches wide) rails and Russian broad gauge (5 feet wide) tracks. 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. New technologies may be expected to overcome this problem. World map showing the Arctic Circle in red A sign along the Dalton Highway marking the location of the Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. ... A Railhead is a terminus of a railway line that interfaces with another tranport mode, for example shipping. ... Nickname: The Golden Heart City Location Coordinates , Government Country  State   Borough United States  Alaska   Fairbanks North Star Incorporated November 10, 1903 Mayor Steve M. Thompson Geographical characteristics Area     City 84. ... Baikal-Amur Magistral in green; Trans-Siberian line in red The Baikal-Amur Mainline (Russian Байкало-Амурская Магистраль, Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral’, BAM) is a railway line in Russia. ... The tower of ostrog, or fort, in Yakutsk was constructed in 1683. ... As railways developed and expanded one of the key issues to be decided was that of the rail gauge (the distance between the two rails of the track) which should be used. ... Great Western Railway broad gauge steam locomotives awaiting scrapping in 1892 after the conversion to standard gauge. ... Sunlight reflects off dual-gauge tracks near Chur, Switzerland Mixed-gauge track and pointwork (1435 mm and 1067 mm) at Odawara in Japan Dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway is a special configuration of railway track, allowing trains of different gauges to use the same alignment. ...

Environmental opposition

There is steep interest both within Alaska and elsewhere in the US and Canada, as well as worldwide, to preserve as much as possible the near pristine conditions of the Alaskan wilderness — and similar consideration for Siberia.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline was widely feared to interrupt caribou migration routes, and while it is claimed that some of those fears have been overstated, the question of oil and natural gas drilling on the Alaska North Slope is still hotly controversial. Map of the pipeline The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), usually called the Alyeska Pipeline in Alaska or the Alaska Pipeline elsewhere is a major U.S. oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to a sea port where the oil can be shipped to the Lower 48 states... ...

A modern highway and rail route over northern terrain may be less likely to be an issue than the pipeline, but overland transportation currently does not extend from Fairbanks to Nome and the Cape Prince of Wales, nor from Magadan to Cape Dezhnev.

There have been long discussions about a highway for the benefit of residents in western Alaska, but the environmental concerns and the fear of cultural influence because of a higher number of visitors to the eskimo villages have obstructed these plans. Distribution of Inuit language variants across the Arctic. ...

Moreover, not only would the requisite construction of vast tracks of overland rail and/or highway raise environmental considerations, but the bridge itself would cross a major whale migration route.

Economic justification

There are of course doubts whether this project is economically reasonable. Comparing with the price per km of other long bridges, the cost for a road bridge could be estimated to be 15-25 billion dollars. (Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering estimates the cost at 105 billion, for a highway, double track rail and pipelines, including continuations on land).

The need to construct long rail links either side probably from the Zeya Reservoir on Baikal-Amur railway in Russia and the Dease Lake branch of CN make this project uneconomic at the moment. However, container traffic between Russia/China and Canada/US could make the transit much quicker than crossing the Pacific Ocean. Passenger traffic would also be possible from as far away as the UK to Canada and the USA. Zeyskoye Reservoir (Russian: ) is a large water reservoir in eastern Russia, north of the Chinese border. ... Baikal-Amur Magistral in green; Trans-Siberian line in red The Baikal-Amur Mainline (Russian Байкало-Амурская Магистраль, Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral’, BAM) is a railway line in Russia. ... Satellite Image of Dease Lake Dease Lake is a small community located in the Northeastern corner on British Columbia. ... CN redirects here, as its the most common usage of the abbreviation in Canada; for more uses, see CN (disambiguation). ...

A much cheaper option would be a car and maybe rail ferry, which could be an intermediate solution. The area is very sparsely populated. There is today (as of 2006) no ferry across the Bering strait. There is not even a road on either side connecting the strait to other parts of the countries. The Pride of Rotterdam, One of the P&O Ferriess Flagships operating the Hull-Rotterdam Route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on scheduled services. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Air is the main mode of travel in these roadless areas. There is however not even a regular air connection across the strait, just a few summer charter flights. International bridges and tunnels have in Europe been paid by loans and road fees only, since there is a political principle that international travel should not be paid by tax payers. A road or rail fee could not pay for more than a small share of the costs.

See also

Bering land bridge Nautical chart of Bering Strait, site of former land bridge between Asia and North America The Bering land bridge, also known as Beringia, was a land bridge roughly 1600 km (1000 miles) north to south at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times...

External links

• Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering
• Alaska History Society Article
• Trans-Global Highway
• The Global Railway
• The Bering Strait Crossing
• Russians dream of tunnel to Alaska. BBC News. 2001