Tunnel under the Bering Strait: will humanity be able to carry out such a project

Once upon a time, the ancestors of the indigenous inhabitants of America came to this continent along the narrow land bridge that existed between Eurasia and North America at the site of the modern Bering Strait. But the ice age has ended, the climate on our planet has become warmer, and the level of the oceans has risen, forming a strait that divided the two continents. But there is a grand engineering project that will connect Eurasia and North America.

The level of global freight transportation is growing every year, transport companies and entire states are constantly looking for the shortest ways and minimize costs. One way to reduce the delivery time of goods from China and Russia to the United States, Canada and other countries of the New World could be to build an underwater tunnel under the Bering Strait.

For the first time, the idea of building a railway tunnel that would connect the two continents was expressed at the end of the 19th century by the American politician William Gilpin, who was supported by the leaders of US railway companies. Further, negotiations were held between the Russian and American sides over the construction of roads leading to the strait, and the construction of the tunnel itself was discussed. But after the October Revolution, these negotiations came to naught, and they forgot about the project for some time. Only in the 90s of the last century the topic of the underwater tunnel under the Bering Strait was again brought up for general discussion, the project was written to the media, debates were held at international conferences.

This is not such an impossible idea as it might seem at first glance. The strait is 86 kilometers wide, over which two islands meet. This fact can significantly facilitate the construction of the tunnel. It is assumed that the railway tunnel will be part of the global transcontinental road and will look like this.

According to experts, from an engineering point of view, the project is not particularly difficult. In addition, humanity already has successful experience in building an extended submarine railway tunnel under the English Channel. The main obstacle at the moment is the unstable political situation in the world, which does not allow discussion of this project at the highest level. Nevertheless, experts note that the construction of the tunnel will bring tremendous economic benefits to all countries participating in the project, so the search for investments should not be stretched for many years.