Roadtrips From New York To London Via Highway
Roadtrips From New York To London Via Highway
Can you imagine being able to drive to Russia? Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin revealed a possible idea at a meeting of the Moscow-based Russian Academy of Science. The plan would be for a trans-Siberian highway which would connect to Alaska.
The plan is being referred to as the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR), and would require additional roadwork to be added to the Trans-Siberian Railway, as well as oil and gas pipelines and a train network according to CNN.com.
Russia has shown interest in similar highway projects before. The WashingtonPost.com reminds us that a plan was proposed in 2007 for a highway tunnel to be built underneath the Bering Strait.
Siberian Times quoted President Yakunin saying, “This is an inter-state, inter-civilization project.” The road would connect to transportation systems which already exist in Western Europe and Asia. It would cover Russia entirely, a span of about 6,200 miles. Missing from the report was the method of transportation people would take from Siberia to Alaska.
BusinessIndsider.com reported, “It would mean you could drive (with help from the Eurostar and the Panama Canal) from the top of the UK, say Wick in Scotland, to the very bottom of South America, Cape Horn.”
The plan is projected to cost trillions of dollars, but the Russian Rail chief believes TEPR would end up being much more economically beneficially in the long run.
According to SiberianTimes.com this would allow for the development of cities across Russia. Vladimir Fortov, the Head of the Russian Academy of Science, admits that the plan is ambitious, however he argues, “It will solve many problems in the development of the vast region. It is connected with social programs, and new fields, new energy resources, and so on.”