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Bering Strait Tunnel Idea Goes Limp (For Now)

Buy a big drill, and everyone starts thinking you're going to dig a tunnel between two continents. That's what happened to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich after he handed over $160 million for the biggest drill in the world.

We've been drooling over the idea of a US to Russia road trip ever since rumors began about the Bering Strait tunnel project a year ago. When Abramovich bought a massive drill last week, well, the rumors really started heating up.

But don't go booking your rental cars just yet. Apparently the real story is something closer to doing some infrastructure works around Sochi on the Black Sea, which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Nice, but nowhere near as exciting as a tunnel joining Russia and the United States. Perhaps we'll have to dig it ourselves.

Related Stories:
· Rumors Billionaire Will Tunnel to America [news.com.au]
· Billionaire Denies Dream of Transcontinental Tunnel [Russia Today]
· Bering Strait Tunnel Project: OMG! Ultimate Road Trip! [Jaunted]

[Photo: macspite]

Tags: Road Trips / Transportation / Engineering / Pipe Dreams / → All Tags

Bering Strait Tunnel Project: OMG! Ultimate Road Trip!

How's this for a little arts 'n' crafts project? A proposed tunnel would cross the Bering Strait, connecting Alaska with the Russian Far East. The tunnel would contain a highway, railway, and oil pipelines, as well as fibre-optic cables. Wait a second...does that mean we can get T1 connections at every seat on that undersea train? WiFi? EEK!

On the Russian side, you'd find some of the least explored and spookiest parts of the inhabited world. We're not really sure who would want to stay there, but the point is that this baby would connect you to Asia. San Francisco to Shanghai? What about Santiago to Seoul? The connection may not exist at this point, but even the idea is pure road trip porn. Also, how much would Hertz charge for a rental along that route?

[Photo: Flickr Junkie/Google]

Related Stories:
· Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, a Link to Alaska [Bloomberg via FlyerTalk]