Bering Strait Bridge Built During Detant

[ChadMachine999]

During the Detant between the US and USSR that existed during the 70s how technologically and geopolitically feasible would it be to build a bridge across the Bering Strait? Also if construction wasn't finished by the time the cold war heated up again under Regan, would Regan cancel

it?

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Welllll.... Given that you'd need to built major road and rail networks, in both Siberia and Alaska, just to get to the starting point, the project would take decades and I can't imagine how many billion.
For what purpose?

Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering estimates the cost of a highway, electrified double-track high-speed rail and pipelines, at $105 billion, five times the cost of the 50-kilometer (31 mi) Channel Tunnel.[18]

Connections to the rest of the world Edit
This excludes the cost of new roads and railways to reach the bridge. Aside from the obvious technical challenges of building two 40-kilometer (25 mi) bridges or a more than 80-kilometer (50 mi) tunnel across the strait, another major challenge is that, as of 2021, there is nothing on either side of the Bering Strait to connect the bridge to.

Russian side Edit
The Russian side of the strait, in particular, is severely lacking in infrastructure. No railways exist for over 3,200 kilometers (2,000 mi) in any direction from the strait.[19]

The nearest major connecting highway is the M56 Kolyma Highway, which is currently unpaved and around 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) from the strait.[20] However, by 2025, the Anadyr Highway is planned to be built connecting Ola and Anadyr, which is only about 600 kilometers (370 mi) from the strait.[21]

American side Edit
On the American side, an estimated 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) of highways or railroads would have to be built around Norton Sound, through a pass along the Unalakleet River, and along the Yukon River to connect to Manley Hot Springs Road – in other words, a route similar to that of the Iditarod Trail Race. A project to connect Nome, 100 miles (160 km) from the strait, to the rest of Alaska by a paved highway (part of Alaska Route 2) has been proposed by the Alaskan state government, although the very high cost ($2.3 to $2.7 billion, about $5 million per mile, or $3 million per kilometer) has so far prevented construction.[22]

In 2016, the Alaskan road network was extended westwards by 50 miles (80 km) to Tanana which is 690 miles (1,110 km) from the strait, by building a fairly simple road. The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities project was supported by local indigenous groups such as the Tanana Tribal Council.[23]

Track gauge Edit

Russia uses a different track gauge from the US and Canada
Another complicating factor is the different track gauges in use.

 

[Anzû]

This mega project is also a super-weapon. A weapon for destroying and over-throwing states. I could imagine some plot to push such a project in a rival state to get them to try and build it and destroy themselves.

A huge and extremely expensive structure,
Built far from existing logistics and industry so exploding every cost item and adding lots of set-up work,
To be maintained against terrible icy and windy and stormy weather,
Linking in to a barren area far far from any real economic centers (Anadyr and Anchorage are not California or the Volga),
Competing with strong and high volume and cost-effective shipping routes.

THAT SAID, it is very cool.

 

[ChadMachine999]

For what purpose?

To show commitment to peaceful coexistence.

 

[Anzû]

To show commitment to peaceful coexistence.

Normally people would make two cities 'sister cities' if they wanted something symbolic, or sign a treaty bringing increased economic integration if they wanted something material.

Not gathering up the GDP of a small economy and shoveling it into the Bering Strait.

 

[Bernard Woolley]

Never mind Reagan cancelling it, I can’t see the paranoid Andropov going along with it when he succeeded Brezhnev. The Soviet economy in the ‘70s would never be able to support their half of the project.

Never mind the politics, however. I’m not sure that the project would be technically feasible within any sort of reasonable budget. It’s a bit like building a tunnel under the Irish Sea. It’s possible, just not really worth it given the costs and technical difficulties.

 

[RamscoopRaider]

As I've said before on this, it is somewhat plausible if you do the project in stages, so that by the time of Detente you only have the last little bit left, and the estimates for that last bit look low enough for it to be plausible, before you run into the inevitable overruns but by which point you are committed

Have the Canadians be willing to spend money on the Alcan highway in the early 30's for Keynesian reasons, it gets finished by the start of WWII. As part of US preparations before the war is extended to Cold Bay, finishing around the same time as the OTL highway during the war. Rumors of the Japanese thinking about cutting off the Lend Lease route to Vladivostok result in a project to expand the route to Nome, as well as a parallel railroad, which gets finished shortly after the war. Russia in the mean time devotes more resources to the Kolmya Highway and it gets finished soon after the war (with a result of increasing the wartime gulag death rate a few percent), with construction and survey work begun on a segment going to Anadyr, which is continued and finished in 1955 or so. For military reasons a route to Provideniya is surveyed, and construction is authorized after the Cuban missile crisis, as part of a scheme to base missiles closer to the US, it gets abandoned but the road gets built. With such a short distance during Detente in 1975, at the time of Apollo Soyuz the US and USSR announce the construction of a road link and friendship bridge, which gets finished in the mid 80's

 

[Reggieperrin]

Normally people would make two cities 'sister cities' if they wanted something symbolic, or sign a treaty bringing increased economic integration if they wanted something material.

For the cost of such a bridge, I think you could BUILD two identical sister cities (Vladieattle & Seattok?) each with a port and airport plus all the required connections to the rest of their countries.

 

[Hcira1]

How much could the cost be reduced if it was only a railway? I feel like that would make slightly more sense than a highway. Maybe the POD could be earlier and you could have the US invest into high speed rail, making this proposal more reasonable or something?

 

[mial42]

Not at all feasible. The costs are mindboggling and even if the US and USSR were ASB mindwiped to love and trust each other completely, there are WAY cheaper and more substantive ways to show it.

 

[Questerr]

Given the storms that are common in the Bering Straits, the only way you are getting anyone to drive over that bridge will be at gunpoint.

 

[The Tai-Pan]

There is nothing up there worth connecting.

 

[Riain]

Isn't the cheapest way to transport most stuff to get it to the nearest port and put it on the biggest possible ship, minimising land transport? Perhaps if the bridge was part of an oil and gas pipeline then it might be worth it, but sending stuff by road and rail isn't as good as by ship.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Shipping stuff by road/rail makes sense only if
1) ocean transport isn't available
or
2) the cargo is valuable enough and time critical enough that the speed of rail over ships is worth it - but not so valuable and time critical that air freight makes sense. That's not a large window.
or possibly
3) if the land route is VASTLY shorter than the sea route. E.g. if She's was closed due to war....

So, unless hypersonic speed hyperloops span the globe, this connexion is a total white elephant.

 

[ChadMachine999]

There is nothing up there worth connecting.

There are very large reserves of valuble resources in Alska and the Far East.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Geopolitically it isn't worth it until China and (North) Korea are more developed. But if we add another trillion to China's GDP (especially in Manchuria), put North Korea to South Korea's development levels, and build a tunnel between Korea and Japan, then it might be worth a little more. We should also keep the USSR together so there's more people in the Russian Far East and maybe some economic reforms to avoid the mess that was Russia in the 90s. So this would likely mean a 1940s POD to get the situation that makes the bridge more sensible in place. Ideally a stronger USSR and China would mean more investment in Alaska and Yukon/northern BC on the part of the US/NATO.

My solution for this bridge would be to make it a submerged floating tunnel instead which avoids the problems with ice and the harsh weather and the expense of digging a tunnel. The United States would have a lot of use for these tunnels, mostly in Washington and Alaska with the weather combined with heavily traveled sea routes making bridges more expensive than they should be.

There are very large reserves of valuble resources in Alska and the Far East.

Most of which are undeveloped and lay quite a ways off the path of this road/railroad. It's easier to build a route to a port and then export the resources by ship. Or even build a long airstrip/seaplane landing area and a large freight aircraft to export the resources that way.