The idea of a global highway network has been around since the 18th century perhaps even longer, but it has become increasingly plausible because of the rapid expansion of highways in the world, especially in the US and China.
Frank Didik has envisioned a "Trans-Global Highway" that would connect existing highways of major continents by bridges and tunnels.
The global highway would connect Africa, Asia, and Europe to North and South America via existing and proposed bridges. The major bridges would be at the Bering Straight, linking North America and Asia, and other bridges and tunnels would be built to join Europe and Africa and many of the water-bound nations of Asia.
Didik claims that a global highway would streamline trade of raw goods between the continents, thereby increasing global security through trade dependence and ultimately promote global peace.
The above comparison shows that linking North America and Asia across the Bering Strait would be nearly twice as long as the Chunnel which links France and Britain. Technologically, the link is feasible. But economically and politically, the link is not. Peace between countries to be joined would be a prerequisite to the project getting underway.
Didik's proposal does not account for links to Greenland, Australia, and Antarctica. Though linking Antarctica to the rest of the world is unfeasible, the omission of Australia and Greenland in his plan weakens the notion of a truly trans-global network. Perhaps a future revision would include these nations:
Though Didik's proposition is rather undeveloped, it is an interesting study into the increasing importance of highways among the growing nations of the world. The idea of a trans-global highway solely for automobiles is somewhat in opposition to the recent emphasis on reducing vehicular fuel consumption. Perhaps a global railway would be more agreeable to environmentally-conscious nations.
3 comments:
make a speculation and post to mega blog soon
I had been researching easy routes also, for years. Including the Trans-Atlantic Tunnel. It's fascinating to me in fact, that I even looked at the shortest route from Greenland to Canada and using the little island to reduce the length of the under/over-water link. Although I don't think that that link and the ones linking Canadian islands if built would ever be built, since they seems obviously not profitable. My favorite, because it would be just as profitable as it is achievable, is the Bering Tunnel. I used to imagine a link between South America and Antarctica, but I was little and I had no clue of the scale. However, the idea I have of linking them, underwater though, is an underwater pile of gravel, reducing the depth, just enough to bring just enough more freezing water from the Antarctic Circumpolar current, north in the Peru current and reduce global warming. Of course in a slow process of dredging, we would have plenty of time to see results way before we get too much cooling. As the cooling would begin, it would be such a slow rate in change, that we would be able to avoid causing an ice age. An earth-fill dam across the Bering Strait would block freezing water flowing south through the Bering Strait and that would allow southern coastal regions of Asia and Alaska to become warmer, but too warm would cause melting of ices and even more sea level rise. However, regions don't have to be above freezing temperatures in order to become better habitable or satisfying. If only a portion of the Bering Strait were dammed, temperatures in the southern coastal regions of Asia and Alaska would be more like icy winters in warm regions. Freezing, but not too freezing. Thus, habitable and satisfying without the effects of melting ices and higher rates of global sea level rise.
It took me a while to make the 4th complete sentence, that I didn't realize I typed 'if built' twice, thus contradicting myself. I meant- Although I don't think that a Greenland-Canada link and Canadian islands links would be built, because it seems obvious they would not be profitable if so built.
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