The Intercontinental Peace Bridge is a proposed/envisioned bridge spanning the Bering Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Siberia, Russia, and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. 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, comprised of two segments 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. Satellite photo of the Bering Strait Nautical chart of the Bering Strait The Bering Strait is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, the eastmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point of the American continent, approximately 85 km (58 mi) in width, with a... Cape Dezhnev (Russian: Mys Dezhneva) (66°01′ N 169°43′ W), Russia, the cape that forms the eastern-most point of Asia, on Chukchi Peninsula in the Bering Strait. ... Siberia Siberia (Russian: , common English transliterations: Sibir’, Sibir; from the Tatar for “sleeping land”) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan 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  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 1st 663,267 mi² / 1 717 854 km² 808 mi / 1300 km 1,479 mi / 2380 km 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. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... World map showing Europe Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. ... 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. 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. ... 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 a 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. 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... The Alaska Highway, also Alaskan Highway, Alaska-Canadian Highway, Al-Can Highway, runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. ... The continental United States refers (except sometimes in U.S. federal law and regulations) to the largest part of the U.S. that is delimited by a continuous border. ... Nome is a city located in 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. ... The Cold War was the protracted geostrategic, economic, and ideological struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their respective and emerging alliance partners. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Global highway is a proposed network of currently existing and yet-to-be constructed roads and bridges that would connect the American continents to Asia, Europe and Africa, incorporating over one hundred nations. ...

Challenges

Technical difficulties would be enormous, and there would be heavy opposition from environmentalists.

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. More, 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) ones. 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 five major circles of latitude 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. ... Fairbanks is a city located in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. ... 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 some of those fears turn out to have been overstated -- but the question of oil and natural gas drilling on the Alaska North Slope is hotly controversial, dripping with vested interest. A modern highway and rail route over northern terrain may be less so 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. 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. 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... ...

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 could be estimated to be 15-25 billion dollars. A much cheaper option would be a car ferry, which could be an intermediate solution. The area is very sparsely populated. There is today (2005) no ferry across the Bering strait. There is not even a road on either side connecting the strait to other parts of the countries. Air is the main mode of travel in these roadless areas. There is however not even a regular air connection across the strait, just 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. The Pride of Burgundy, a P&O Ferries car ferry on the Dover-Calais route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on scheduled services. ...

External links

• Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering

• Alaska History Society Article

• The Global Railway

• The Bering Strait Crossing

• Interhemispheric Bering Strait Tunnel and Railway Group