TORONTO — It’ll be a long ride, so pack some snacks — Russia is proposing a transportation network to link Moscow to North America that would go through Canada.
The narrowest span between Siberia and Alaska, crossing the Bering Sea, is just 82 kilometres wide. The plan would have the road passing through Edmonton, Alta.
With the completion of the proposed Trans-Eurasian Belt Development, a series of existing and to-be-built roads, railways, and tunnels could theoretically connect London to New York City.
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Vladimir Yakunin, Russian Railways president and Vladimir Putin pal, said the development could create new cities and spur industry. In a presentation to the Russian Academy of Science he called the development an “an inter-state, inter-civilization, project.”
It’s a lofty goal, with Russia spanning 10,000 kilometres from east to west, through often-punishing terrain. While a specific cost was not placed on the project, Yakunin admitted it would be massively expensive.
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Vladimir Fortov, head of the Russian Academy of Science, said the project is “very ambitious and expensive.”
The Siberian Times reported Fortov said the transport link “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.”
The project would create a transportation route spanning the length of Russia that would link with existing European and Asian networks.
The plan includes a new train network, roads, oil and gas pipelines, as well as water and electricity facilities. It has the potential to create jobs while connecting remote corners of Siberia to the rest of Russia and North America, and vice versa.
This news comes on the heels of Russia performing massive military exercises in the Arctic and deploying missiles and nuclear-capable bombers to various regions for drills in a show of strength ordered by Putin.
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