Transatlantic Tunnel

• Author: admin
• Filed under: Uncategorized
• Date: Mar 8,2008

A transatlantic tunnel is a theoretical tunnel which would span the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe and would carry mass transit of some type—trains are envisioned in most proposals. Using advanced technologies, speeds of 300 to 5,000 mph (500 to 8,000 km/h) are envisioned.

Plans for such a tunnel have not progressed beyond the conceptual stage, and no one is actively pursuing such a project. Most conceptions of the tunnel have it between the United States and the United Kingdom. The main barriers to constructing such a tunnel are cost—as much as $12 trillion—and the limits of current materials science. Existing major tunnels, such as the Channel Tunnel and Seikan Tunnel, despite using less expensive technology than proposed for the Transatlantic tunnel, struggle financially. A Transatlantic Tunnel is 215 times longer than the longest current tunnel and would cost perhaps 3000 times as much.

Imagine Living in New York and working in London, with a commute time between the cities of less than an hour. A 3,100-mile-long transatlantic tunnel is the theoretical floating tunnel which would span the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe.In 2003, the Discovery Channel’s show Extreme Engineering aired a program entitled “Transatlantic Tunnel,” which discusses the proposed tunnel concept in detail. Yesterday, it was made available on YouTube.

With current-day materials and building techniques its construction would take a lifetime (or more) to complete—not to mention over 12-trillion dollars. Given the state of terrorism-related fears, I’m sure that a project of this type will never materialize. Too juicy and unprotected this Western target would be for extremists.But who knows, with the way technology will move along this century, we might be starting to teleport things by the time something like this would be nearing completion. And travel (as we know it today) would be forever changed.
Here you can view detailed plan for transatlantic tunnel, from Discovery.

Technorati Tags: transatlantic tunnel, usa europe tunnel, floating tunnel, span atlantic ocean