October 13, InfraNews
The US President’s approval of the construction of a new railroad that will link Alaska to Canada’s rail network has sparked interest in an even more ambitious infrastructure project that could connect the northernmost state of the United States to the Russian Far East and further to Asia, TASS reports citing ‘South China Morning Post’.
In September, US President Donald Trump approved the Alaska-Alberta Railroad project (A2A). The construction cost of the 2,400 km highway is estimated at US $ 22 billion. This project could become the first link in the railway network linking Asia directly with America through the Bering Strait.
The idea of building a crossing over the Bering Strait was proposed at the end of the XIX Century. The strait is 85 km wide and only 55 meters deep, it is not prone to tides, there are no strong currents. Anyway, the tunnel is preferable since the steel bridge structures are vulnerable in the arctic climate. The construction of the crossing would be a major breakthrough in the implementation of China’s “Belt and Road” Strategy. However, the project attracted many protests and became the subject of heated discussions. Its opponents point to the huge costs, the complexity of implementation from the point of view of engineering tasks, the detrimental impact on the environment, the risks of opening the borders for a potential enemy.