Great driving highways become legends, Route 66, the Autobahn, the Stelvio Pass, the Amalfi Coast and numerous others. But are we ready to add the Trans-Eurasian Belt to that list? Having first caught wind of this proposed engineering mega-project back in March the head of Russia’s railway system has continued to develop plans for a proposed superhighway that would ambitiously traverse Siberia and connect Russia to North America via the Bering Strait.
According to a report from The Siberian Times, the highway would run alongside much of the current Trans-Siberia Railway, and end on the eastern edge of Russia with a tunnel or perhaps a bridge over the Bering Strait. The project is being referred to as the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR) would also make use of some pre-existing roads to reach London and New York, but would require thousands of miles of new roads to be built across the width of Russia.
Connecting the North American and Eurasian continents would certainly be complicated. The highway would have to span a minimum 55-mile distance between mainland Russia and Alaska, and continue on through the isolated state’s wilderness. About 520 miles separates the closet settlements in Alaska to Russia.
Traversing the long expanse would take a driver departing Fairbanks, Alaska through roughly 13,000 miles of road-trip before arriving in London. (It’s roughly 4,200 miles and 71 hours from NYC to Fairbanks) By the numbers that just about 19 straight days of driving 70mph for 10 hours…. Hopefully the Russian authorities will build plenty of rest stops and western style travel accommodations along the way.
