It’s time to build a bridge between Russia and Alaska

Imagine the most epic road trip of your life – cruising to places unknown, friends packed in your car alongside plastic wrappers from gas station food and having to pull over every five minutes for a bathroom break. Road trips are a classic American way to see new places, but what if it were possible to take your journey to a whole other level? Not just cross-country, but cross-continental.

Think along the lines of South America to North America, to Asia, to Africa, to Europe. Sounds like a fantasy, right? But several years from now, it could be a possibility; there is a very real possibility that engineers could build a tunnel between Alaska and Russia, thereby linking North America to Asia. Building the “Intercontinental Peace Bridge” or the “Eurasia-America Transport Link,” (a few of the names that have been floated around) would help to expand global trade and promote mutual cooperation between the U.S. and the rest of Asia; as such, we should seize the opportunity to invest capital in this project and make this dream a reality.

The Bering Strait is the small mass of sea between Alaska and Russia which some believe could become a method of transport between the two continents. The gap is about 60 miles wide with a small series of islands, which are conveniently located in the middle of the strait, making two 30-mile segments of water. The deepest point of the strait is fairly shallow at 164 feet. The theory is that there could be two underwater tunnels that would connect on the islands, according to InterBering.com.

Although building a bridge across the Bering Strait could prove arduous with the extreme cold weather of the Arctic, a similar engineering and construction process has already taken place in the English Channel. The Channel connecting France and England is 31.4 miles long with the deepest point of 250 feet. It is a heavily used method for transport between Paris and London via EuroRail.

Although the media hardly ever talks about this project, the idea is not new. Since the late 1880s, engineers have contemplated the possibility of building the tunnel or bridge. However, due to the world wars and tensions between Russia and the United States, there have been no efforts to implement any solid plans for the idea.

Not only would the tunnel between North America and Asia be an extraordinary way to see the world, but it would open the door to many other possibilities. This mega-project would create jobs for thousands, introduce a new method of trade, and also improve relationships between countries. China, as one of the top dogs in the global economy, fully supports funding for building the tunnel, according to the Universal Peace Federation website. The possibility of taking a high-speed train from Beijing to New York has an obvious business and trading appeal.

The real problem is getting the United States and Russia to put aside their differences to make this “Peace Bridge” a reality. Aside from endless tourist possibilities and the potential boom to the global economy, building the bridge from Alaska to Russia would help bring a sense of unity between an otherwise divided international community.