Siberian-North American Bridge

Paper Summary:

It has been suggested that, at least since the mid-1990s, there should be a bridge or tunnel connecting Siberia and North America, across the Bering Strait. From the Russian point of view, it would make the vast nation a trans-shipment point for the majority of the world's most valuable commodities as well as producer of some, including gas, oil, timber, diamonds, gold and fish. Secondly, it has been suggested that such a project would open tourism on both sides. This paper shows that problems that face any initiation of such a project range from the political to the geological. The result is, however, that these problems must be identified and dealt with before it would be feasible to even construct an economically advantageous scenario incorporating the eventual value of trade across such a structure and the cost to build and-perhaps even more cogently, considering climatic factors-maintain it. The factors contributive to a major feasibility study are identified and assessed.

Table of Contents
Chapter I: Introduction and Statement of the Problem
Chapter II: Review of the Literature: Research Questions
Socio-political Factors
Russia's Value to World Markets
Siberia: Still Out in the Cold
Resources to Exploit
Tourism
Timber
Oil
Gold
Diamonds
Fish
Chapter III: Methodology
Chapter IV: Findings
Geology
Cost projection
Chapter V: Discussion
References
Appendices

From the Paper:

"In the years since the early post-Soviet era, Russia and the United States have been faced with choices new to their relationship. Russia grappled with deciding how close an alignment it wanted with the West. The United States needed to decide how strongly it should assert its power (Legvold, 2002, p. 21+). At least in the case of the United States, that choice was made clear by the Afghan and Iran wars. In addition, that choice has arguably altered the possibilities for Russia. Russia would have had to cut loose of its traditional fears. But "In contrast, if the United States makes a particular strategic choice, the effect on those relations could be major and negative, and the potential for a truly beneficial U.S.-Russian alliance may be lost" (Legvold, 2002, p. 21+). In the aftermath of the Iran war, in particular, it is hard to imagine that the promise of full cooperation has not been damaged severely, another factor which would put serious constraints on an accommodation on both sides that would allow a project as extensive as a Bering Strait connector infrastructure."

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