I recently posted in another thread (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6481.msg2052713#msg2052713) about the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR) proposal for high-speed rail and a related road network that would go across Siberia to the Bering Strait. This extraordinarily ambitious plan has been presented to Russian President Putin for his consideration. I just came across this
Daily Mail article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3009708/Plans-proposed-ambitious-12-400-mile-road-Russia-link-Britain-U-S.html) that focuses on the road component of TEPR; consequently, I am starting a thread about the proposed road. From the article:
Quote
Britain could be linked with America by road as part of an ambitious project to create the world's longest superhighway spanning half the circumference of the globe.
Proposals have been put forward to build the mega route stretching about 12,400 miles from the western edge of Russia to the Bering Strait where the country nudges Alaska.
Linking into existing road networks in Europe and Asia, for the first time it would allow travellers a proper highway to drive all way from the UK to the United States.
A Trans-Siberian rail link as well as oil and gas pipes would run alongside the highway, and plans have been mooted already for a rail tunnel connecting the far flung Russian region of Chukotka - where football tycoon Roman Abramovich once served as governor - and Alaska ....
This new scheme is seen as a way of turning Russia into a global transportation hub, a bridge between Europe, Asia and North America, so revitalising the Russian economy and attracting new tourism.
Vladimir Fortov, the Head of the Russian Academy of Science, recently put forward the uncosted plan dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR) to President Vladimir Putin.
'The project is very ambitious and expensive, but it will solve many problems in the development of the vast region,' he said, according to The Siberian Times.
The current longest continuous road in the world is found in Australia, where Highway 1 runs around the entire country and spans some 9,000 miles.
In Russia the Trans-Siberian Highway network is more than 6,800 miles long, meaning the new road would become the biggest and longest ever built, with additional sections in the west and east.
Plans for the TEPR were unveiled by the head of the Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin - who has been hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine - at a meeting of the Russian Academy of Science.
Using tunnels or ferries from England the continent, and Russia to the US, a driver could use the highway to travel from Britain to the US for the first time.
Its development is viewed as a 'powerful and versatile' corridor that would allow massive investment and the construction of pipelines for oil and gas, the laying of facilities for electricity and water supplies and the opportunity for new cities to be created.
The team behind the project say they estimate it will require trillions of dollars but insist its economic benefits would far outweigh any cost.
What is unclear is how a cash-strapped Russia could afford it ....
Five years ago Vladimir Putin travelled along some of the existing roads in the Russian Far East as part of a tour to meet voters before the presidential elections.
Behind the wheel of a yellow Lada, he drove 2,000 kilometres across Siberia in a stunt intended to boost his ratings and the Russian car industry.
But it backfired when he discovered much of the route was in a bad state of repair and his car was photographed on the back of a tow truck.
Here is a snip of a map from the article:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FELN9Ilr.jpg&hash=5828f2660bfc8f17abb8de54fc01658e39953a77)
theres Russia's plan.
Surprising (and fabricated) fact: Vladimir Fortov is known to his comrades as "фритсаул".
Quote from: kurumi on March 25, 2015, 11:03:44 AM
Surprising (and fabricated) fact: Vladimir Fortov is known to his comrades as "фритсаул".
Thanks for acknowledging the fabrication. My understanding is that Fortov is known to his comrades as "Алан, который любит коз".
Now all we need is $200 a barrel oil so Russia can build their project, get rid of Putin and the kleptocracy, put in an Interstate from the Bering Sea to the lower 48 and then we can drive to London and pay their congestion tax...LOL!
Rick
It will open to traffic on April 1?
Quote from: Chris on March 25, 2015, 03:34:51 PM
It will open to traffic on April 1?
You mean March 32.
After seeing discussion of this proposed road in another thread (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8426.msg2102650#msg2102650), I noticed that discussion of it also recently bubbled up again in this October 9 article (http://news.discovery.com/earth/new-york-to-london-by-car-151009.htm):
Quote
If you're into road trips, here's something that will blow your mind.
The Russian government has proposed building a cross-country superhighway that would link to both European and U.S. highway systems. If the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development, which would also include a high-speed rail system, eventually becomes a reality, it might be possible someday to drive from London to New York, by way of Siberia.
That's about 13,000 miles, so be prepared to stop for a couple of oil changes along the way.
Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin unveiled the idea this spring, at a meeting of the Russian Academy of Science, according to the English-language website Siberian Times ....
It's hard to say how much the superhighway and bridge or tunnel would cost. Global Construction Review vaguely estimated the budget as "trillions of dollars." Where Russia, whose total annual gross economic output is about $2.1 trillion, would get the funding is unclear.
If the road is ever built, it hopefully will be an improvement over the existing Trans-Siberian Highway, which is only partially paved and has a reputation as one of the world's most dangerous routes.
I think people will have fun with this proposal for quite a while.
I'd drive it. Looks like the trip of a lifetime.
Sounds very interesting! Almost similar to the Immigration Freedomway, which has become very popular on this forum.
Quote from: Henry on October 29, 2015, 01:18:29 PM
Sounds very interesting! Almost similar to the Immigration Freedomway, which has become very popular on this forum.
It could actually link Moscow with Havana by serving as the western extension of the Immigration Freedomway: the Pravda Parkway?
This project floates around in the international media every few years / months.
I won't ever be built. It just too far from any population centers in too harsh a climate. From Yakutsk to the Bering Strait it's approximately 2,000 miles through some of the most barren and remote terrain on earth. The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is larger than Texas and has a population of 50,000. The Magadan Oblast is larger than California with a population of 155,000, two-thirds of whom live in the city of Magadan, which is out of the way of a Yakutsk - Bering Strait highway.
Quote from: Chris on October 29, 2015, 01:44:26 PM
This project floates around in the international media every few years / months.
I won't ever be built. It just too far from any population centers in too harsh a climate. From Yakutsk to the Bering Strait it's approximately 2,000 miles through some of the most barren and remote terrain on earth. The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is larger than Texas and has a population of 50,000. The Magadan Oblast is larger than California with a population of 155,000, two-thirds of whom live in the city of Magadan, which is out of the way of a Yakutsk - Bering Strait highway.
Could it be built? Yes.
Should it be built? Probably no.
But I wanted to go to Australia by car. This road's no good.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 30, 2015, 10:58:12 AM
But I wanted to go to Australia by car. This road's no good.
Buy a Dutton!
Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 30, 2015, 10:58:12 AM
But I wanted to go to Australia by car. This road's no good.
Just take a left at Siberia and go south through China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and New Guinea and into Australia. I'm sure all the bridges through the Indonesian Archipelago will be done by the time the Bering Straits crossing is done. No problem.
There would be serious defense implications from this development. Namely, it would be possible to deploy ground troops across the bridge. Right now, to deploy troops from the Russian Far East would require amphibious or airborne forces. We have bases in Alaska to defend from Russian Long Range Aviation and the Soviet pacific fleet isn't geared for North American operations.
Troops heading to the Bering Straight would be pretty easy to spot. And they can cross it in March as it is if they are trained properly (I never understood why the 1990s attempt to drive from London to New York didn't, after the umpteenth breakdown on the Bering Straight, just walk the rest of the way, rather than keep using the 0.25mph vehicle that broke down about every two miles and had to eventually be abandoned in the middle and the team taken by plane to Nome. Walking was perfectly possible, and would have meant that they were the first to make the journey by land, even if they didn't make all the way in a vehicle).
However, I'm not sure why Russia would bother with a ground invasion of the USA - unless the aim was just Alaska, but even then, their tactic is to stoke a separatist movement with their own Guerilla fighters and then come in as 'peacekeeping' forces after the separatist movement takes control.
They'll use the same rationale to conquer Alaska that they did to conquer Crimea! Simply "repatriating" former Russian lands.
Quote from: AlexandriaVA on October 31, 2015, 11:05:59 AM
They'll use the same rationale to conquer Alaska that they did to conquer Crimea! Simply "repatriating" former Russian lands.
They don't need Alaska, though. That's why they decided to sell it in 1867.
Remember that the vast majority of Russia's population is in the western half of Russia.
I need no reminder of Russia's population balance.
Bear in mind that crude oil was a non-issue at the time of the sale.
Quote from: AlexandriaVA on October 31, 2015, 11:05:59 AM
They'll use the same rationale to conquer Alaska that they did to conquer Crimea! Simply "repatriating" former Russian lands.
The stated excuse was repatriating Russians (some of whom got stranded outside of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union), not recovering land. While there are some Russian-speaking communities in Alaska, they are small and inconveniently far away from Russia (mainly in southern Alaska's Kenai Peninsula).
Quote from: AlexandriaVA on October 31, 2015, 11:05:59 AMThey'll use the same rationale to conquer Alaska that they did to conquer Crimea! Simply "repatriating" former Russian lands.
That wasn't the argument they used in Crimea - the argument they used in Crimea was that this newly independent country was being held by an oppressive (and illegitimate - it was a coup sparked by riots with EU personnel doing what the Russians did in infiltrating the country and stoking civil unrest to get a desired outcome of the riots) power and their forces were needed for peacekeeping.
They will need to infiltrate Alaska covertly and build up a separatist movement that gets and wins (fraud probably wasn't needed or used in Crimea, but it would be in Alaska) referendum declaring the state independent of the USA, the state government to invite the Russians to peacekeep and then do another dodgy referendum to join Russia.
Quote from: oscar on October 31, 2015, 01:33:42 PMThe stated excuse was repatriating Russians (some of whom got stranded outside of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union), not recovering land.
Nope - closer to the the stated reason, but no cigar. Fits with the Dombas though: protecting ethnic Russians from a Government who obtained power in an EU-backed coup (designed to close Ukraine off from Russia) and banned Russian from being spoken/written/read in official life despite being the mother tongue of a huge minority (a third? 45%?) of their populace.
I can't believe in the 21st century we're talking about the threat of Russians taking back Alaska.
The probability of this being a concern is zero in a million. Building a road bridge from nowhere to nowhere isn't going to change that. There's more cameras patrolling that part of the world than there are people in it.
Quote from: english si on October 31, 2015, 05:00:16 PM
Quote from: AlexandriaVA on October 31, 2015, 11:05:59 AMThey'll use the same rationale to conquer Alaska that they did to conquer Crimea! Simply "repatriating" former Russian lands.
That wasn't the argument they used in Crimea - the argument they used in Crimea was that this newly independent country was being held by an oppressive (and illegitimate - it was a coup sparked by riots with EU personnel doing what the Russians did in infiltrating the country and stoking civil unrest to get a desired outcome of the riots) power and their forces were needed for peacekeeping.
They will need to infiltrate Alaska covertly and build up a separatist movement that gets and wins (fraud probably wasn't needed or used in Crimea, but it would be in Alaska) referendum declaring the state independent of the USA, the state government to invite the Russians to peacekeep and then do another dodgy referendum to join Russia.Quote from: oscar on October 31, 2015, 01:33:42 PMThe stated excuse was repatriating Russians (some of whom got stranded outside of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union), not recovering land.
Nope - closer to the the stated reason, but no cigar. Fits with the Dombas though: protecting ethnic Russians from a Government who obtained power in an EU-backed coup (designed to close Ukraine off from Russia) and banned Russian from being spoken/written/read in official life despite being the mother tongue of a huge minority (a third? 45%?) of their populace.
Even ethnic Ukrainians spoke Russian in professional urban settings. I know a lady who is about 60 she was a neurologist there and she said jn the cities everyone her age spoke Russian.. Ukranian was like the"redneck" language to some extent
Quote from: nexus73 on March 25, 2015, 03:06:20 PM
put in an Interstate from the Bering Sea to the lower 48 and then we can drive to London and pay their congestion tax...LOL!
Rick
California to London via the Bering Sea. Sounds like a good premise for a
Top Gear road trip. In $400,000 supercars, natch!
What Russia needs, and could build, is a road connecting Irkutsk to Vladivostok along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. They've had a century to build that road, and it's not done.
Quote from: wdcrft63 on November 11, 2015, 06:42:31 PM
What Russia needs, and could build, is a road connecting Irkutsk to Vladivostok along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. They've had a century to build that road, and it's not done.
Highway construction was never much of a priority for the Communists that ruled Russia for most of the 20th Century.
this will never happen, due to politics
Quote from: wdcrft63 on November 11, 2015, 06:42:31 PM
What Russia needs, and could build, is a road connecting Irkutsk to Vladivostok along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. They've had a century to build that road, and it's not done.
According to Google Maps, there's already a road connecting those two cities. They even have street view of it (for example, here (https://www.google.com/maps/@49.0453051,130.885967,3a,75y,151.23h,66.52t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shzW3nI-pYeJmnKo1AdHxPw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DhzW3nI-pYeJmnKo1AdHxPw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D240.30199%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656)). Or is there more than one of those cities?
Quote from: vdeane on November 12, 2015, 01:03:56 PMAccording to Google Maps, there's already a road connecting those two cities.
Also true in the real world, not just Google Maps.
Quote from: english si on November 12, 2015, 03:04:47 PM
Quote from: vdeane on November 12, 2015, 01:03:56 PMAccording to Google Maps, there's already a road connecting those two cities.
Also true in the real world, not just Google Maps.
I read an article somewhere (forget exactly where) that people bring used Japanese vehicles westward for sale using that road.
Quote from: vdeane on November 12, 2015, 01:03:56 PM
Quote from: wdcrft63 on November 11, 2015, 06:42:31 PM
What Russia needs, and could build, is a road connecting Irkutsk to Vladivostok along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. They've had a century to build that road, and it's not done.
According to Google Maps, there's already a road connecting those two cities. They even have street view of it (for example, here (https://www.google.com/maps/@49.0453051,130.885967,3a,75y,151.23h,66.52t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shzW3nI-pYeJmnKo1AdHxPw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DhzW3nI-pYeJmnKo1AdHxPw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D240.30199%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656)). Or is there more than one of those cities?
Apparently this is correct. The long gap on the M58 highway through eastern Siberia is now reported to be paved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R297_highway_%28Russia%29
While were waiting or to test viability, why not consider drive on/off car/truck/train ferries? Im sure the Bering Strait is brutal some months, but how brutal and what months?
Quote from: dzlsabe on November 26, 2015, 11:25:08 AM
While were waiting or to test viability, why not consider drive on/off car/truck/train ferries? Im sure the Bering Strait is brutal some months, but how brutal and what months?
That'd be a ferry to nowhere, as things now stand. You'd need to build hundreds or even thousands of miles of approach roads or railroads, through unpopulated areas and hostile environments, for any such ferry to connect to anywhere on the continuous Russian and North American highway or rail networks. Just crossing the Bering Strait might be the easy part.
I'll let others figure out how much of the year sea ice in the Bering area would be a problem. Ice blocks shipping to nearby Nome much of the year. As mentioned elsewhere on this forum, one year a Russian icebreaker had to help clear a path for Nome's last fuel barge of the season when the ocean froze up too soon.