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=293a89c46b4912f829c1e6e0cca2df98de2a3050)
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.
Pretty much near zero percent chance this happens but its fun to think about Trump mentioned this project during some talking point he made in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations, which need not to be focused on to prevent this from getting political. I don't see this happening anytime soon but it would be cool if the conflict was solved and this project was a result of that. Just fun to think about.
This goat's got a bump in his trunk!
FritzOwl suddenly re-emerges last week and now his famous Bering Strait Interstate gets a bump? Conspiracy or just "plans?" I think this is needed...
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on September 03, 2025, 12:37:41 AMFritzOwl suddenly re-emerges last week and now his famous Bering Strait Interstate gets a bump? Conspiracy or just "plans?" I think this is needed...
I've always been a fan of this concept knowing as soon as I saw it how unlikely it is to happen but who's to say it'll never happen? Maybe with sea level rise the project will not be feasible but just like the Darian Gap it remains an infrastructure project people laugh at. Besides NE2's typical replies you want to compare something like this that has been discussed by leaders for decades to Fritzowls intercontinental interstate plans that have things like turning US-50 into a full fledged interstate? Give me a fucking break.
I've always thought it'd be cool to see a highway connecting through the Caribbean from Florida to Venezuela but I don't go around posting it because it's nonsense. This project isn't that. It's unlikely to happen for a myriad of reasons, sure.
Also seems like it would as serious enough not to be moved to fictional for as long as this thread has been here for one reason or another but now all the sudden it's Fritzowl territory.
Fritz has on/off talked about this Bering Strait Interstate for years. The last iteration also had a branching route to North Korea.
Either way, probably no real need to dredge this back up from 2015.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on September 03, 2025, 01:17:33 AMFritz has on/off talked about this Bering Strait Interstate for years. The last iteration also had a branching route to North Korea.
Either way, probably no real need to dredge this back up from 2015.
Haha well I think I'm a little far off from running an interstate to North Korea. Either way what's the big deal about bringing this up?
Some pretty serious advancements would need to be made in highway engineering in order for a bridge across the Bering Strait to be feasible. The bridge itself isn't the only engineering challenge. The land on either side of the strait poses its own problems. The temperature extremes make the soil unstable. Frost heaves can be common. Any paved roads leading to a Bering Strait bridge would have to be able to withstand those extremes as well as withstand whatever amount of vehicle traffic might use the road.
I would think the main point of building such a highway network and bridge would be to facilitate commercial traffic movement through the region. I think traffic demand from people taking road trips in their personal vehicles would be pretty low for a number of pretty obvious reasons (time, vehicle wear and tear, etc). Even if commercial trucks would use this route what kind of time or money would businesses be saving by trucking their shipments on this path versus using ships or cargo jets?
A rail corridor across the Bering Strait could be a better idea. The same engineering challenges remain though. Another hang-up is the differences in rail gauges between the US and Russia. At least one or more intermediary rail yards would be needed to transfer cargo from American gauge trains to Russian gauge trains. All of that rail infrastructure would cost a great deal of money? Would the finished rail corridor be cost competitive with container ships and cargo planes? Such a rail corridor cannot be built unless it offers some kind of discount of terms of price or shipping time versus the other existing methods.
Good points but I would think if they build a road a railroad would be built as well or vice versa. Wouldn't make too much to much sense, IMO, to build one without the other. I am thinking this would need to be an interstate or even four lanes for that matter.
It wouldn't even need to be paved. The easternmost 1600+ km of the existing road to Palatka is gravel, as is quite a bit of the road from there to Omsukchan and beyond.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5oMVccjUbM7NUSbc8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anadyr_Highway
Quote from: Bobby5280 on September 03, 2025, 12:28:09 PM....
A rail corridor across the Bering Strait could be a better idea. The same engineering challenges remain though. Another hang-up is the differences in rail gauges between the US and Russia. At least one or more intermediary rail yards would be needed to transfer cargo from American gauge trains to Russian gauge trains. All of that rail infrastructure would cost a great deal of money? Would the finished rail corridor be cost competitive with container ships and cargo planes? Such a rail corridor cannot be built unless it offers some kind of discount of terms of price or shipping time versus the other existing methods.
Why transfer cargo between trains? Why not just construct a bogie exchange and swap out the bogies on the same railcars? The Russians certainly have experience with that. So do the North Koreans (Kim Jong Un's train has them swapped for trips to Russia, for example).
I'm just going to leave this here:
Quote from: FritzOwl on September 03, 2025, 07:12:06 PMI think my I-96 (Aleutian Islands) and I-98 (Bering Strait Bridge) are needed. The Aleutian Islands route would allow someone to drive to Japan via the Kurile Islands or to Taiwan via the Ryuku Islands.
The Bering Strait route would serve those wanting to drive to China or over to Europe.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on September 03, 2025, 12:28:09 PMA rail corridor across the Bering Strait could be a better idea. The same engineering challenges remain though.
Another complication for a rail line would be permafrost sags, which would undermine the tracks and might be hard to fix (especially in remote areas). With a gravel road, you can just run a grader to smooth the roadbed. Paved roads are scarce in the Arctic for that reason, though thermosiphons (heat pipes) (http://alaskaroads.com/NorthSlopeBorough-sign-large_DSC4208.jpg) to refrigerate the subsurface are one possible way to minimize permafrost issues.
Quote from: 1995hooWhy transfer cargo between trains? Why not just construct a bogie exchange and swap out the bogies on the same railcars? The Russians certainly have experience with that. So do the North Koreans (Kim Jong Un's train has them swapped for trips to Russia, for example).
A lot of the cargo would be in intermodal box containers -the same metal boxes that get stacked on container ships, arrive in Long Beach and then get double-stacked onto freight train "well cars." The well cars are often in articulated groups of 3 or 5. If a rail line were to be built across the Bering Strait it would almost certainly need to have at least two separate tracks to maximize the number of trains that could use the crossing. I would imagine Russian freight trains have the ability to handle the same kinds of intermodal shipping containers. It's just a matter of having a rail yard that can transfer the containers between the two different gauges of trains.
Of course lots of other things get hauled by rail. So there are various other kinds of rail cars. Some of that stuff isn't so easy to switch from one train over to another.
Quote from: oscarAnother complication for a rail line would be permafrost sags, which would undermine the tracks and might be hard to fix (especially in remote areas). With a gravel road, you can just run a grader to smooth the roadbed. Paved roads are scarce in the Arctic for that reason, though thermosiphons (heat pipes) to refrigerate the subsurface are one possible way to minimize permafrost issues.
Hence my earlier statement about the need for serious technological advances to make any of this fantasy stuff feasible. I don't think a gravel road will be an acceptable connection to reach an intercontinental bridge. Vehicles can travel only so fast on a gravel road. Such roads can handle only so much traffic volume. And those kinds of roads can inflict a lot of wear and tear on vehicles, especially any passenger vehicles.
If a Bering Strait bridge were ever to be built the engineers would have to "go big or go home." Paved super highways are needed on both sides. A double-tracked rail line would give the bridge multiple uses (and make it more profitable).
I must say, the fact that the Russians have been slowly plugging away at a road to Anadyr does make the idea of a road all the way to the Bering Strait less hair-brained than I originally thought. If they ever get around to completing it, Anadyr will be linked to the rest of Russia by road.
The total length of the road from Magadan to Anadyr is expected to be roughly 1430 miles. As the crow flies, it's about 925 miles between the two. By comparison, it's only 380 miles as the crow flies from Anadyr to the easternmost point in mainland Russia.
There is also a branch planned to Egvekinot (https://maps.app.goo.gl/uAPp5hBMJCXZNdK58), which would cut that remaining distance down to about 265 miles as the crow flies to mainland Russia's easternmost point, with no big bodies of water between the two.
As it is currently, Google Maps can already route you along the completed 160 miles from the Kolyma Highway (Р504) to Omsukchan:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/1EHm3omexYnwr1xg9
I'll be paying a bit more attention to this (if/when) I-15 is extended to and beyond Edmonton and Grande prairie, AB.
Mike
By the way, I'm really digging these long distances on highway signs. For example, 1939 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/x7EdjKHfuq642CXG8) from Sokol.
Edited to add: 2012 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/DtzavG2Q9QWhJteY8)
I'm grumpy about the current US/Russia political climate. I had never gotten there in my travels and taking the Trans-Siberian railroad is one of my bucket list travel items. Driving some of these highways would also be a blast.
I wonder if they'll get around to connecting Kamchatka by road while they're doing any of this.
Quote from: kphoger on Today at 11:07:12 AMBy the way, I'm really digging these long distances on highway signs. For example, 1939 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/x7EdjKHfuq642CXG8) from Sokol.
Edited to add: 2012 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/DtzavG2Q9QWhJteY8)
3,177 km to Magadan, although it looks like the sign is no longer there (https://maps.app.goo.gl/KHjwMs7tJdCBXn6B8).
Edited to add: And then there's this.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20141109133836im_/http://poleofcold.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/DV1A85141.jpg)
Fixed, because I'm an idiot and mistook Yakutsk for Irkutsk.
Quote from: kphoger on Today at 11:07:12 AMBy the way, I'm really digging these long distances on highway signs. For example, 1939 km to Yakutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/x7EdjKHfuq642CXG8) from Sokol.
Edited to add: 2012 km to Yakutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/DtzavG2Q9QWhJteY8)
Quote from: JayhawkCO on Today at 11:21:06 AMI'm grumpy about the current US/Russia political climate. I had never gotten there in my travels and taking the Trans-Siberian railroad is one of my bucket list travel items. Driving some of these highways would also be a blast.
It would also be an oblast.
(Yes, I self quoted.)
Quote from: JayhawkCO on Today at 03:15:24 PMQuote from: JayhawkCO on Today at 11:21:06 AMI'm grumpy about the current US/Russia political climate. I had never gotten there in my travels and taking the Trans-Siberian railroad is one of my bucket list travel items. Driving some of these highways would also be a blast.
It would also be an oblast.
(Yes, I self quoted.)
Crossing the Bering Strait would be a Most (https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82) satisfying trip.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on Today at 03:15:24 PMIt would also be an oblast.
Let's see, moving east from Lake Baikal...
Yep, Irkutsk is an oblast.
Nope, Buryatia is a republic, not an oblast.
Nope, Zabaykalsky is a krai, not an oblast.
Yep, Amur is an oblast.
Yep, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast is an oblast, go figure.
Nope, Khabarovsk is a krai, not an oblast.
Nope, Primorsky is a krai, not an oblast.
Moving farther north and east...
Nope, Sakha is a republic, not an oblast.
Yep, Magadan is an oblast.
Nope, Chukotka is an okrug, not an oblast.
And just in case a branch road makes it south from there...
Nope, Kamchatka is a krai, not an oblast.
Quote from: kphoger on Today at 02:33:56 PMbecause I'm an idiot and mistook Yakutsk for Irkutsk.
Didn't you play enough Risk as a kid?
Quote from: kphoger on Today at 02:33:56 PMbecause I'm an idiot and mistook Yakutsk for Irkutsk.
Tsk, tsk...
Quote from: 1995hoo on Today at 01:47:02 PMQuote from: kphoger on Today at 11:07:12 AMBy the way, I'm really digging these long distances on highway signs. For example, 1939 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/x7EdjKHfuq642CXG8) from Sokol.
Edited to add: 2012 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/DtzavG2Q9QWhJteY8)
3,177 km to Magadan, although it looks like the sign is no longer there (https://maps.app.goo.gl/KHjwMs7tJdCBXn6B8).
Edited to add: And then there's this.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20141109133836im_/http://poleofcold.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/DV1A85141.jpg)
An oil field as a control city...some on this forum's heads would explode...
Quote from: kphoger on Today at 11:07:12 AMBy the way, I'm really digging these long distances on highway signs. For example, 1939 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/x7EdjKHfuq642CXG8) from Sokol.
Edited to add: 2012 km to Irkutsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/DtzavG2Q9QWhJteY8)
Yakutsk. I'm getting better at reading Cyrillic.
EDIT: Late to the party as usual.
Quote from: 1995hoo on Today at 01:47:02 PMAnd then there's this.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20141109133836im_/http://poleofcold.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/DV1A85141.jpg)
Quote from: Rothman on Today at 06:02:15 PMAn oil field as a control city...some on this forum's heads would explode...
So, judging by the distances on the sign, it appears to be heading north out of
Vitim (https://maps.app.goo.gl/w9RNqe41YyNgrqYp8), with the road to Peledui branching off up ahead.
And, for anyone interested,
here is the oil field (https://maps.app.goo.gl/m47XtNw7vpVi1oRK7) that's being used
as a control city on a mileage sign.