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The
road outlines are tentative and are designed to utilize the existing
highway grid. Thus many more arteries than illustrated above, would
be connected to the backbone of the Trans Global Highway. Not clearly
shown in the map above is that North America and Asia are to be
connected by the Bering Strait Tunnel
When completed by 2040, the Trans Global Highway will
physically link by highways, railroads, magnetic levitation (mag-lev)
trains, water pipelines, oil and gas pipelines, and communication
cables, all continents and major population centers, including Australia.
From a human point of view, the advantages of the Trans Global
Highway are enormous. First, it will allow rapid transport of raw
materials and finished goods from near and far. In addition, the
Trans Global Highway will offer a conduit for gas, oil and water
pipelines, as well as communication and electric power cables. It
should be noted that fresh water is a major issue among arid areas,
throughout the world, including the Middle East, western United
States, Africa and Central Asia. The Trans Global Highway combined
with water pipelines from areas of abundance to arid areas, will
benefit humankind even more. Perhaps there is a solution to the
theoretical threat of global flooding from melting land ice at the
poles, that some people fear.
The Trans Global Highway will undoubtedly increase global
security through mutually dependent trade and commerce. As with
almost all major public works projects, such as the Suez Canal, the
Panama Canal, the Chunnel, the Alaska Pipeline and others, many
people will argue that the tunnels, bridges and roads are not
necessary. Some may present counter arguments stating that existing
air and sea transport is just fine. Further, the cost may at first,
may seem astronomical, but in retrospect, every one of these
visionary projects has greatly helped mankind in commerce and
progress. Ultimately, the Trans Global Highway will be constructed,
in one form or the other, but we have an opportunity to start with,
at least the ground work of planning, today. The primary obstacles,
are not technical, and not even financial, even though the costs may
seem high. The real obstacle to the construction of the Trans-Global
Highway is political. Many bordering countries are presently at odds
with one another, and may not be willing to allow a free moving
highway to run through their territories, even with the potential of
vast economic benefits.
From a technical point of view, the entire road and rail
network is to be built, utilizing the engineering, materials and
technology of today. At first glance, the development obstacles of
the AmerAsian Peach Tunnel (Bering Strait
tunnel) may seem insurmountable, but this is not the case.
The Bering Strait Tunnel will consist of 3 tunnels connecting
Alaska and Russia by going through two islands (the Little
Diomede(USA) and Big Diomede (Russia)). The longest single tunnel
will be 24 miles in length. Since the Bering Sea at the
proposed crossing has a maximum known depth of only
170 feet, the tunnel will be dug using conventional, modern tunnel
boring machines, of the type that was employed in the construction of
the Chunnel. The three tunnels is be much better than a bridge for a
variety of reasons including that fact that during the winter months,
the Bering Strait is iced over and a bridge would be subject to sever
environmental conditions. Further, in most cases, tunnels are both
less expensive to construct and cost less to maintain. Suspended
under water tunnels are not suggested for this crossing, because of
the shallow depth of the Bering Strait.
The AmerAsian Peace Tunnel will start on the US side, from the
town of Cape Prince of Wales, which has a population of 156 and about
80 buildings, including a large school, streets and general store,
and end at the Russian settlement of Naukan or 2 km north at the
Dezhnev settlement. The tunnel will pass through both Little and Big
Diomede islands which can be used for ventilation shafts and possibly
as a relief station. Both Little Diomede (USA) and Big Diomede
(Russia) have been occupied for hundreds of years. Little Diomede has
a Inalik native village with a population of about 200 and has a high
school, store, Post Office, a community hall and many residences. The
terrain of Cape Prince of Wales is very similar to the rolling grassy
hills of Scotland and the gentle hill ends at a flat area at the
Bering Strait with a very nice beach. The terrain of the Diomedes as
well as the Russian Asiatic mainland is similar to the fiords of
Norway, though the tops of the hills again are very similar to the
rolling grassy hills of Scotland. Archeological findings, date back
to over two thousand years. There are relatively flat areas along the
coast of Russia, around the exit of the tunnel, is ideally suited for
a major highway and rail transport. In the winter time, the surface
of the Bering Strait is frozen and it is possible to walk or even
drive across the Strait, however, this is very dangerous, not to
mention that crossing will be going across international borders. The
tunnel will not be affected by the frozen Strait and tunnels under
similar conditions have been constructed world wide.
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State
of Alaska Photo
Cape
Prince Wales (USA), looking towards Russia, in the summertime. |
USGS
Photo
Big
Diomede (Russia) |
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USGS
Photo
Asiatic
Russia, just past the Diomede, in summer. The green is enhanced. In
reality, the greenery is similar to Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. |
USGS
Photo
Little
Diomede (USA) in the foreground. |
It should be noted that presently, there are many tunnels
around the world that are as long as the longest tunnel needed to
complete the Trans-Global Highway. The "Chunnel" linking
England with Europe is approximately 31.34 miles (50.45km) long, the
ocean tunnel Seikan linking Hokkaido with Honshu in Japan is 33.46
miles (55.86km) long, while the new Swiss Gotthard tunnel through the
Alps, currently under construction, will be 35.7 miles (59.60km)
long. There are in fact, 5 tunnels over 30 miles in length, in
existence today.
Path of the
proposed AmerAsian / Bering Strait Tunnel
Click
on any photograph to enlarge. Use your back key to return to this menu.
(Please
also view the more detailed maps, found on the column to the right)
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The
Bering Strait is named after Captain Vitus Bering of the Imperial
Russian Navy, who was sent by Peter the Great, in 1725, to explore
the ocean surrounding the eastern most reaches of Russia. |
Japan will be connected with mainland Asia via five tunnels
extending from the city of Fukuoka on Kyushu to the port city of
Pusan in Korea via four islands. The maximum ocean depth in this area
is 480 feet. It is also feasible to connect Japan to mainland Asia by
constructing two tunnels extending north from Hokkaido to Sakhalin
Island, which will be 25 miles (42km) long and a second tunnel from
Sakhalin to the Siberian Russian mainland, which will only be 4.2
miles (7km) long. Recent estimates are that as much as 20 million
tons of goods, manufactured in Japan will be shipped overland via the
Russian railroad system, bypassing the current costly shipping costs,
that include transit through the Suez Canal. There is a major
financial incentive to build the Hokkaido Sakhalin-Siberian tunnel.
It should be noted that the Russian standard gauge railroad tracks
have a slightly higher gauge than the global standard. Thus the rails
on the Russian gauge tracks are approximately 8" (20cm) farther
apart than the rest of the standard gauge rails. This system was
adapted to have a wider footprint, to minimize sinking in the soft
summer soil in the tundra region (though some historians have also
stated that this "non-standard" was adapted to prevent
foreign armies from quickly using Russian tracks in the event of war.
Prior to the 1905 Russo-Japan war, the Chinese railroads, which
Russia built, also used this wider gauge After 1905, when the
Japanese took over the Chinese rails, the Japanese rebuilt the rails
to conform with the global standard, which Japan had adapted. Today,
railroads employ various techniques to overcome this inconsistency
including the addition of undercarriage hubs. One example of how
conflicting gauges are dealt with is shown below in the photographs
shot by the author in 1971. Perhaps a better, automated solution will
be to use flat cars designed to use the global standard 40 foot (12
meters) and 20 foot (6 meter) shipping containers. These containers
will be loaded from one gauge flat car to another gauge flat car in a
matter of seconds. The author was amazed by the speed in which
container ships were loaded and unloaded. Similar special technology
can be engineered to do the same with railroads. The Sakhalin Island
has an advanced and extensive rail system. Further, the Sakhalin
Island region is very wealthy, being one of the major oil producing
regions of the world.
Politics is a major bump to the Trans
Global Highway however all of the governments, including countries
that do not have relations with one another, recognize the importance
of the Trans Global Highway and how much EVERY country will benefit.
Publicly though, there is resistance to such transportation and trade unification.
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Example
of how the Russian gauge railroad cars
can
be made to run on European gauge track.
These
photographs were shot by the author in 1971 when he was just a child,
while
traveling in Wiebligen, western Germany, interested in model
electric trains.
Click
on any photograph to enlarge. Use your back key to return to this menu.
Click
to enlarge. Use your back key to return to this menu.
Other
methods of dealing with track guages includes our patent pending
system of multi guage track adjustment system as seen below.
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Dealing
with the snow
Much
of the arctic region has limited snowfall and can be controlled and
handled through conventional rail and road snow removal techniques.
In certain areas of high snow fall and accumulation, it may be
possible to construct steep roofed, prefabricated, inexpensive snow
roofs along the length of the effected track or road. In certain
areas, we may also opt to cover the Tracks and roadways of the Trans
Global Highway.
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This is an old fashioned train
snow plow found in Honesdale Pennsylvania. |
Unlike this 100 year old train,
modern railroad snow removal trains employ snow blowers that run at
relatively high speeds. |
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The
photographs below illustrate the terrain of norther Alaska and
Canada,
where photographed by the author, while flying in a commercial
Airline from New York City to Japan, in February, 2003. This
seemingly harsh terrain in fact is crisscrossed by roads and even
small airports. The terrain in Alaska and Russia, around the Bering
Strait is slightly less rugged. Existing paved roads exist in both
Russia and Alaska within a few miles of the Strait. These roads can
be widened to form part of the Trans Global Highway. In the
summertime, much of this area is spectacularly green with tall grass.
It may be possible to encapsulate the expanded and enlarged roads and
rail links with a network of in-expensive overhead prefabricated protectors.
Click
on any photograph to enlarge. Use your back key to return to this menu.
Part of the
original proposal by Frank X. Didik
for the
Trans Global Highway
Peace and
prosperity for all through mutually beneficial trade
By Frank X. Didik
May, 2006.
To read the
original Frank X. Didik proposal for the Trans Global Highway,
please go to: www.TransGlobalHighway.org
"I would
like to go from New York City to London. By car. Before the end of my
life, I would like to drive from New York City to Alaska and go
through the AmerAsian Peace Tunnel across the Bering Strait,
connecting the United States with Russia. From there, I plan to drive
south along the trans Siberia highway and cross under the bay from
Siberia to the Sakhalin Island (Russia), which is known for its
natural beauty and enormous mineral and gas reserves. From Sakhalin,
I will drive to Japan, via the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Friendship Tunnel
and then to the main Japanese island of Honshu through the 33.5 mile
/ 50km long Seikan ocean tunnel (built in 1988), and on to Tokyo.
From there I plan to go to southern Honshu and cross over the
(existing) bridge to the southern Japanese island of Kyushu and from
there, through the Korean-Japan Friendship Tunnel. Going through the
open borders of the Korea's, I plan to than drive through China,
India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Egypt and
all of north Africa to Morocco, where I plan to drive through the
EurAfrican Friendship Tunnel, ending in the southern tip of Spain,
just south of Gibraltar. From there, I plan drive north
to France and finally to England, via the 31.3 mile long
"Chunnel", which has a special train to carry automobiles
under the English Channel. I want to do this, in complete safety, through limited
or open borders".
I
admit that in today's world, what I have just described seems utterly
inconceivable; perhaps the unattainable dream of an idealist. On the
other hand, consider that in 1939, the thought of a completely open
Europe, without borders, would also have seemed totally impossible.
In August, 1989, who would have dreamed that in just one month, the
borders between "east" and "west" Germany would
be gone forever? Yet what seemed impossible is reality today. The
Trans Global Highway can and will eventually be constructed, in one
form or the other
and will ultimately enhance global understanding, mutually beneficial
trade and to bring society closer together.
Frank X. Didik, New York City, May, 2006
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The proposed
AmerAsian Tunnel would link North America and Asia, across the Bering
Strait, for the first time in an estimated 9 thousand years. It would
create a highway, railroad, fresh water, oil and gas pipelines and
communication crossings. |
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The construction
and use of the AmerAsian Tunnel would greatly reduce the overall cost
of transporting finished goods and raw materials to and from Europe,
Asia, North and South America. |
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From and
engineering perspective, the construction of the AmerAsian Tunnel is
straight forward without any particularly complex issues involved.
The Tunnel would comprise of 3 tunnels connecting Alaska and Russia
going through the Little and Big Diomede Islands.
Little and Big
Diomede Islands showing path of proposed Bering Strait tunnels.
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The Bering Strait
is very shallow with a maximum depth at the proposed tunnel crossing
of only 170 feet (52meters). The surface of the Bering Strait is
frozen some of the time. The tunnel could be constructed in segments
in factories and then sunk and assembled underwater. It could also be
construced using modern tunnel boring machines or TBM's.
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The TransGlobal
Highway would incorporate the existing railroads and highway networks
in each country. The illustrated path of the proposed TransGlobal
Highway would also have numerous other tributary roads.
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Existing roads may
have to be strengthened and or widened and brought up to a single
standard. The railroads of Russia are of a slightly wider gauge This
was designed to provide a greater footprint so that the rails would
not sink in the soft soil. Technologies exist for dual gauge train
cars. (Kindly see photographs of dual gauge trains, below). |
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The world as a
whole, would greatly greatly benefit from the TransGlobal Highway.
For example, Japan, in 2002, shipped 12 million metric tons of
finished goods to Europe, primarily by ocean. Some of the goods went
through the Suez Canal, while a portion of the goods also went around
South Africa. The shipping time from Yokohama to the European port of
Antwerp was in the order of 45 days. By rail, via the Trans Global
Highway, this time could be reduced to 12 days.
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It is proposed
that two major tunnels be constructed to link Japan with Asia. These
being the Korea-Japan Friendship Tunnel and the Hokkaido to Sakhalin
Island-Asia Tunnel. These tunnels would thus quickly connect Japan
and the rest of the world to quickly and effectively transport people
and goods, at a minimal cost.
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None of the major
tunnels that would have to be constructed for the TransGlobal Highway
would be particularly difficult to build. All of the tunnels would be
going through relatively shallow water. The tunnels can be
constructed in segments and than sunk and anchored to the bottom.
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In some
cases, could in fact be suspended from the ocean floor, deep enough
not to be effected by adverse surface weather conditions. This system
is not envisioned nor needed for the proposed tunnels, however this
system could be employed if at such time, a tunnel was to be
constructed to link Australia to the rest of the world, between the
Cape of York Peninsula in Australia and Papua New Guinea or Darwin to
Timor, via Melville Island. (See below for more details). |
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The proposed
segmented, prefabricated tunnels could provide for both vehicle as
well as rail transport, though with the potential complexity of
ventilation, a Chunnel approach may have to be taken, whereby the
vehicles are transported by electric powered railroad, through the
tunnel. Equally important, the Trans Global Highway would offer a
pathway for oil and gas pipelines, communication cables as well as
water pipelines to transport fresh water from areas of abundance to
arid areas. |
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In a way, much of
the TransGlobal Highway already exists in local roads and highways
across the globe. The proposed TransGlobal highway would utilize the
existing transportation network, extending, widening and perhaps
strengthening it so that it forms a uniform global highway. |
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The
Trans-Global Highway would include:
1.
Road transport
2.
Robotic Railroads
3.
Oil and gas pipelines
4.
Electric and communication cables
5.
Fresh water pipelines could minimize the concern of flooding as
presented in the theory of global warming. |
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A series of long,
though not particularly difficult to construct tunnels is proposed to
be built linking Indonesia and Australia with the rest of Asia,
Europe and the world. This would be a huge advantage for global trade
and travel. It should be noted that in every case when a major bridge
or tunnel has been proposed, there are groups of people who have
argued that existing ferries and boats or out of the way roads were
good enough. The fact is that after such construction, everyone
immediately agreed that the bridge or tunnel was needed. Such
examples can be seen with the Chunnel, the Brooklyn Bridge, the
Varazono Narrows bridge and many other examples. |
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If a tunnel
was to be constructed to link Australia to the rest of the world,
between the Cape of York Peninsula in Australia and Papua New Guinea
(147km / 88.2 miles) or Darwin to Timor, via Melville Island (400km /
240miles). These incredibly long tunnels are not being proposed at
the present time, though it should be noted that the Swiss Gotthard
tunnel through the Alps, which is at the final stages of completion,
will be 35.7 miles / 59.60km long. Arguable, the Swiss tunnel, bored
through solid rock, is more difficult to construct than the potential Australia-Papua
New Guinea tunnel. Presently, a major seaport is proposed to be
constructed on Timor so to link Timor with Darwin and the rest or Australia. |
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Turkey, which is
situated both in Asia and Europe, is presently linked to Europe via
two bridges. A third bridge is Presently at the beginning phases of construction. |
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The concept of
linking Spain with Africa, in the area of Gibraltar has been dreamed
of and proposed, many times over the past thousand years. The
proposed EurAfrica Tunnel is an absolute must and is technically very
easy to accomplish. It would allow a vast amount of raw materials and
finished products to be sent back and forth between Europe, Africa
and the middle East.
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This illustration
is based on the 1929 proposal to link Spain with Africa, just south
of Gibraltar. With some slight modifications, and a much wider
(though not longer) tunnel, Europe and Africa can finally benefit
quickly and easily from one another. |
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Click
on any photograph to enlarge. Use your back key to return to this menu.
Closeups
of Key Proposed Tunnels
Please
click map to enlarge.
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Closeup of the
proposed path of the AmerAsian Friendship Tunnel. |
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The AmerAsian
Friendship Tunnel would consist of 3 tunnels, with the longest being
23 km. The tunnel could be built in 10 years at an estimated cost of
5.5 Billion (thousand million) U.S. Dollars. |
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Closeup of the
proposed path of the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Long Tunnel. |
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The
Sakhalin-Hokkaido Long Tunnel would be 42km long and could be
constructed in 9 years, at the cost of approximately 4.2 Billion
(thousand million) U.S. Dollars |
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Closeup of the Sakhalin-Asia
Short tunnel that would connect the Sakhalin Island with Siberia. |
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The proposed Sakhalin-Asia
Short tunnel would be 7km (4.2 miles) long. It could be constructed
in 4 years at an estimated cost of 350 million U.S. Dollars. |
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Expanded view of
the region surrounding the The proposed Sakhalin-Asia Short tunnel |
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Proposed path of
the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Long Tunnel and the existing Seikan ocean
tunnel . |
Global
Population I
realize that this a particularly touchy area and there are
overlapping reasons given for some of the population control
programs. In general, the reasons given for population control is
fear of a limited amount of resources and available energy and food supplies.
Rather than discouraging or restricting the formation of families in
order to stabilize or reduce population another approach would be to
let the population expand, without controls, and at the same time,
vastly expand available resources. Clearly the Trans Global Highway
would assist in greatly increased food production, clean water
supplies and rapid distribution of resources world wide.
There are vast areas of our planet that have an abundance of
resources of every variety, and yet these areas seem to isolated to
make proper use of. Construction of the Trans Global Highway will
change all of this since we will be able to get fresh water from
areas with huge reserves of fresh water, such as northern Canada and
Russia and pipe this water to areas with limited water supplies such
as central Russia, North Africa, and even to the western part of the
United States, that is presently rationing water to farms. Thus the
Trans Global Highway would increase available food supplies
worldwide. Further, transportation costs would be reduced and the
speed to transport heavy items would be increased, when compared to
ocean ship transport, thus low value cement or time dependent heavy
machinery could be quickly transported from one area of the world to
another. Such things as expensive mechanized farm equipment could be
utilized for one month in one area of the world and then shipped to
another area, with a different growing season. A large number of new
industries would be formed with massive economic opportunities.
Further, the entire planet would benefit with increase food supplies,
inexpensive electricity, and fuel and mineral resources could be
transported from isolated areas to urban areas.
If
we continue with the current direction of global population control,
we will end up with a stagnated medieval type of world, with very
little progress, and massively declining standards of living for all,
rich and poor. To restrict or reduce population, based on resources
available today and a very limited understanding of the future
availability of resources, will lead to nothingness. Already the
resulting decline in birthrates and aging populations has created
many new and unforeseen consequences. This includes a declining tax
base, a greater tax burden for the younger people, a greater
percentage of people required to take care of the elderly, declining
industrial output and a significant decline in the standard of living
for many young people.
Many people today still quote Thomas Robert Malthus's from the 18th
century and several others more recently, who predicted that society
would run out of resources and thus cause massive human starvation
and strife. The fact is that Thomas Robert Malthus's famous dire food
shortage predictions of 1798 and his subsequent books, over the next
30 years, failed to take into consideration modern advances in
farming, transportation, food storage and food abundance.
There
really is a better way for society, than to push population control.
The solution is simple. Have an international effort to build my
proposed Trans Global Highway.
The
Name is Confusing: It
was probably an error on my part many years ago, to name the project
"Trans-Global Highway" since most people associate the word
"highway" with a roadway, when in fact, I always viewed the
Trans-Global Highway as a pathway or a conduit for a variety of long
distance transporting needs including electric cables to send
electricity generated from distant places to urban areas,
communication cables, oil and gas pipelines as well as being a
pathway for high speed programmed trains and finally a roadway for
truck and car transportation. For extremely long range journeys, I
have always felt that the best way to transport goods would be using
programmed trains, rather than trucks, however for shorter trips,
such as between local cities or in relatively populated areas, trucks
and car would no doubt utilize the Trans-Global Highway.
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