Bering Strait crossing
[9] A Nazi plan to create a wide-gauge railroad called the Breitspurbahn was mooted to connect the cities of Europe, India, China and ultimately North America via the Bering Strait.
[citation needed] In 1958, engineer Tung-Yen Lin suggested the construction of a bridge across the Bering Strait "to foster commerce and understanding between the people of the United States and the Soviet Union".
[11] At that time he made a feasibility study of a Bering Strait bridge and estimated the cost to be $1 billion for the 80 km (50 mi) span.
[13] According to a report in the Beijing Times in May 2014, Chinese transport experts had proposed building a roughly 10,000-kilometer (6,200 mi) high-speed rail line from northeast China to the United States.
[citation needed] Several American entrepreneurs have also advanced private-sector proposals, such as an Alaska-based limited-liability company InterBering founded in 2010 to lobby for a cross-straits connection, and a 2018 cryptocurrency offering to fund the construction of a tunnel.
"[18] Proposals to build a crossing predate the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Russian-Ukrainian War, which started in February 2022.
It is not known how those events have affected strategic concerns relating to the proposed crossing, which would facilitate access by Russia to North America.
Even before the invasion, commentators on the proposed link have flagged strategic military concerns as a factor in any decision to build the crossing.
[22][better source needed] The depth of the water is a minor problem, as the strait is no deeper than 55 meters (180 ft),[13] comparable to the English Channel.
[clarification needed][13] In Lin's design, concrete covers all structures, to simplify maintenance and to offer additional stiffening.
[13] Although there are no icebergs in the Bering Strait, ice floes up to 1.8 meters (6 ft) thick are in constant motion during certain seasons, which could produce forces on the order of 44 meganewtons (9,900,000 pounds-force; 4,500 tonnes-force) on a pier.
[citation needed] If the crossing is chosen as a bridge, it would probably connect Wales, Alaska, to a location south of Uelen.
A project to connect Nome, 160 kilometers (100 mi) 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 $3 million per kilometer, or $5 million per mile) has so far prevented construction.
The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities project was supported by local indigenous groups such as the Tanana Tribal Council.
[32] In late August 2011, at a conference in Yakutsk in eastern Russia, the plan was backed by some of President Dmitry Medvedev's top officials, including Aleksandr Levinthal, the deputy federal representative for the Russian Far East.
[30] Supporters of the idea believed that it would be a faster, safer, and cheaper way to move freight around the world than container ships.
[30] Shortly after, the Russian government approved the construction of the $65 billion Siberia-Alaska rail and tunnel across the Bering Strait.
