Important vocabulary
Tensile (adj): relating to tension, capable of being drawn or stretched
1.0 Introduction
Engineers have long dreamed about connecting the world’s two largest land masses – the Americas and Afroeurasia – where there is thought to have existed a landbridge thousands of years ago. Tunnels, bridges, and other methods of connecting the 55 mile Bering Strait between the tips of Alaska and Siberia have been proposed, such as the railroad bridge that Joseph Strauss, designer of the Golden Gate Bridge, introduced in his senior thesis to the University of Cincinnati in 1892 (“Joseph Strauss”). The idea is yet to garner serious attention, though Russian, American, and even Chinese engineers and business magnates continue to toy with the dream that worldly citizens will one day travel by car or rail from Alaska to Russia, and by that logic, any city in the Americas to that in Europe, Africa, or Asia (Shirk). However, doing so would come with hundreds of engineering challenges that must be evaluated.
A hypothetical rendering of a Bering Strait Bridge
Courtesy of Tom Ricci and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
1.1 Benefits
Politicians, engineers, and economists alike explore the potential benefits of an intercontinental connection in their fields of expertise. For politicians, they believe that linking two of the world’s most powerful yet often aloof nuclear superpowers (USA & Russia) by land would also link them in trust and friendship. Engineers believe that such a feat would return focus to the challenges in infrastructure facing our world today in a field ever more concerned with the digital rather than physical world. Finally, economists believe that the benefits in intercontinental commerce of such a connection would repay in multiples the cost of its creation within a short time frame.
2.0 The bridge / tunnel
Aerial map of what the bridge would look like
Sourced from Russia Beyond
2.1 Dimensions
The most prominent plans for a Bering Strait bridge involve three sections – from mainland Russia to Big Diomede (36.0 km), Big Diomede to Little Diomede (3.8 km), and Little Diomede to Wales, Alaska (36.8 km) according to Google Maps. However, it is interesting to note that using these islands would provide little benefit for a tunnel, so it would most likely be direct from mainland Russia to mainland Alaska, 80 kilometers. In perspective, the longest undersea tunnel currently is the Chunnel that links Britain and France across the English Channel, of which the undersea portion is 37.9 kilometers (Cripps and Xiong). Depth is not as prominent an issue, as the depth of the water at its greatest is about 50 meters, relatively similar to other undersea tunnels such as the Chunnel.
2.2 Piers
The Bering Strait is just outside of the Arctic Circle, and extreme cold engulfs the region for the majority of the year. Icebergs are present for 8 months a year. In Spring, as icebergs melt, pieces of ice break off and create “ice flows” which are hundreds of meters wide, flow downriver at high speeds, and can produce 5,000 tons of force (Ricci). Additionally, profound temperature changes and extremely salty seawater in the region creates wear and tear on the bridge. Any small crack could become fatal. Therefore, a new design of bridgepost is needed to ensure that the bridge can survive such forces occurring on a regular basis. According to the documentary Extreme Engineering by the Discovery Channel, experimentation at the Confederation Bridge (crossing the Northumberland Strait in eastern Canada) has discovered that a cone shaped bridgepost can use the force of the incoming iceberg to break it apart rather than absorb the force (Bridging the Bering Strait)
2.3 Prestressed Concrete
Comparison of standard and pre-stressed concrete under a load
1. Unstressed beam
2. Unstressed beam under load, displaces downwards
3. Prestressed concrete creation – tendons stressed
4. Prestressed concrete creation – tendons released
5. Prestressed concrete under no load, displaces upwards
6. Prestressed concrete under a load, displaces flat
Courtesy of Wikipedia
The bridge would also have to withstand earthquakes, as the Bering Strait is located near the northern tip of the infamous Pacific Ring of Fire – a union of two aggressive tectonic plates responsible for thousands of volcanic eruptions including those that created the Hawaiian islands. A way to add strength and endurance to the bridge or tunnel so that it could withstand earthquakes up to 7 on the Richter scale would be to use prestressed concrete in its creation. While it can withstand massive compression forces (pushing together), standard concrete easily cracks under tension forces (pulling apart). Prestressing concrete is the process of stretching steel rods, setting concrete around the rods, and then releasing the rods once the concrete is set so the rods compress. It is a similar concept to the idea that if you hold a stack of books vertically and apply enough inwards force on both ends, you can flip the stack horizontally and none will fall. This process gives the material the compression strength of concrete and tensile strength of steel (“Prestressed Concrete”). In this scenario, prestressed concrete will allow the flexibility for the bridge to expand and condense without forming cracks as the temperature changes from upwards of 10 degrees Celsius in the summer to -16.7 degrees Celsius in the winter.
3.0 Surrounding Infrastructure
Even once the bridge/tunnel is built, on the American side about 1200 kilometers of railway and highway will need to be built, and on the Russian side over 2000 kilometers will be needed in order to link the two country’s major highway and railway systems. The cost of this is projected at 10 times the cost of building the crossing. However, some development is already being made in the front. Siberia is one of the fastest warming regions on the planet, and despite the worrying nature of this trend, it provides economic benefits exposing new oil and mineral reserves each year. This has enticed the Russian government to expand their railroad network further east than ever before, in efforts to both access these reserves and export them to Chinese customers (Ishikawa 2021). It is plausible that such an eastward trend will continue in the future and eventually make an intercontinental connection feasible. On the US side, funding provides the largest issue. While Alaska was ranked the worst state for business by CNBC in 2021, (Cripps and Xiong, 2022), the 2021 Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act recently approved over $3.5 billion for repair and expansion of Alaskan highways (Murkowski 2021). In the future, even greater support is needed from the lower 48 US States if Alaskan infrastructure is to continue a northwestern push towards the Bering Strait.
4.0 Funding and support
The project is estimated to cost about $12 billion for the crossing, and $60 billion in total when all surrounding infrastructure is created. However, it is estimated that a railway across the Bering Strait could carry 3% of global freight and produce $7 billion in profits each year, which could see the crossing paying back its investment in under a decade. Additionally, the shipping of oil across the Bering Strait through pipes within the tunnel or bridge could see additional profits. The biggest question resides in who would pay for the crossing, as it would require the cooperation of Russia, China, USA, three superpowers that have aroused tensions in recent years.
5.0 Conclusion
It is important to stress the current unlikelihood of a Bering Strait Crossing in near decades. Despite the potential benefits of intercontinental trade and peace, the vast costs and possible failure of the project deter the support of the majority of American voters. A Russian-born American businessman, Fyodor Soloview, once described himself and Dr. Hal Cooper (PhD in Chemical Engineering), two proponents of a Bering Strait Crossing, as “last two men standing [on this issue] in North America at the moment” (Shirk, 2015). As of now, there is no clear scientific consensus on if this project would 1 Succeed and 2. Provide sufficient benefits to compel its creation. However, it is important for citizens of the world to not forget about infrastructure projects as such while shifting towards the digital age.
References
Bridging the Bering Strait (E. Fields & A. Lindgren, Writers) [Film]. (2003). Powderhouse Productions.
Cohn, S. (2021, July 13). America’s Top States for Business 2021. CNBC. Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/americas-top-states-for-business.html
Cripps, K., & Xiong, Y. (2022, January 4). China’s longest underwater highway tunnel is now open. CNN. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/china-longest-underwater-highway-tunnel/index.html
Ishikawa, Y. (2021, June 13). Russia uses military to modernize Far East railway. Nikkei Asia. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Russia-uses-military-to-modernize-Far-East-railway
Joseph Strauss | American Experience | Official Site. (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldengate-strauss/
Murkowsk, L. (2021, August 10). Alaska to Receive Big Benefits from Infrastructure Package. Senator Lisa Murkowski. Retrieved April 20, 2022, from https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/alaska-to-receive-big-benefits-from-infrastructure-package
Prestressed Concrete. (n.d.). The Portland Cement Association. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.cement.org/cement-concrete/products/prestressed-concrete
Report: Tunnel linking US to Russia gains support. (2011, August 20). NBC News. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44212283
Ricci, T. (2012, January 13). Connecting Two Continents Ultimate Challenge. ASME. Retrieved April 20, 2022, from https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/connecting-two-continents-the-ultimate-engineering
Shirk, A. (2015, July 1). A Highway Across the Ocean. The Atlantic. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/superhighway-bering-strait-new-york-paris/397370/Wales, AK – Climate & Monthly weather forecast. (n.d.). Weather US. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.weather-us.com/en/alaska-usa/wales-climate#faq
About the Author
AJ Caesar is a high school student from the USA with aspirations of one day tackling pertinent environmental and infrastructural issues as a trained engineer. He hopes that those who read his articles will be informed on and inspired by some of engineering’s largest and most seemingly impossible goals for the coming century. Please address all questions, comments, and concerns to iysj.ajcaesar@gmail.com.