Britain could be linked with America by road as part of an ambitious project to create the world’s longest superhighway spanning half the circumference of the globe.
Proposals have been put forward to build the mega route stretching about 12,400 miles from the western edge of Russia to the Bering Strait where the country nudges Alaska.
Linking into existing road networks in Europe and Asia, for the first time it would allow travellers a proper highway to drive all way from the UK to the United States.
A Trans-Siberian rail link as well as oil and gas pipes would run alongside the highway, and plans have been mooted already for a rail tunnel connecting the far flung Russian region of Chukotka – where football tycoon Roman Abramovich once served as governor – and Alaska.
While roads exist across much of Russia some are of dismal quality, especially in the east of the country.
Among these is the notorious Road of Bones built by Stalin’s political prisoners.
This new scheme is seen as a way of turning Russia into a global transportation hub, a bridge between Europe, Asia and North America, so revitalising the Russian economy and attracting new tourism.
Vladimir Fortov, the Head of the Russian Academy of Science, recently put forward the uncosted plan dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR) to President Vladimir Putin.
‘The project is very ambitious and expensive, but it will solve many problems in the development of the vast region,’ he said.
The current longest continuous road in the world is found in Australia, where Highway 1 runs around the entire country and spans some 9,000 miles.
In Russia the Trans-Siberian Highway network is more than 6,800 miles long, meaning the new road would become the biggest and longest ever built, with additional sections in the west and east.
Plans for the TEPR were unveiled by the head of the Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin – who has been hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine – at a meeting of the Russian Academy of Science.
Using tunnels or ferries from England the continent, and Russia to the US, a driver could use the highway to travel from Britain to the US for the first time.
Its development is viewed as a ‘powerful and versatile’ corridor that would allow massive investment and the construction of pipelines for oil and gas, the laying of facilities for electricity and water supplies and the opportunity for new cities to be created.
The team behind the project say they estimate it will require trillions of dollars but insist its economic benefits would far outweigh any cost.
What is unclear is how a cash-strapped Russia could afford it. Giving a presentation on the scheme, Yakunin – a close friend of Putin – described it as ‘an inter-state, inter-civilisation project’.
He also said it would lead to Russia becoming the new world centre for the creation and development of high-tech industries because of its central position in the new global transport network.
Five years ago Vladimir Putin travelled along some of the existing roads in the Russian Far East as part of a tour to meet voters before the presidential elections.
Behind the wheel of a yellow Lada, he drove 2,000 kilometres across Siberia in a stunt intended to boost his ratings and the Russian car industry.
But it backfired when he discovered much of the route was in a bad state of repair and his car was photographed on the back of a tow truck.
The R504 Kolyma Highway – better known as the Road of Bones after the skeletons of those who died in its construction were used in its foundations – is the only main road through the remotest parts of the Russian Far East.
Connecting Magadan with the town of Nizhny Bestyakh, much of the route is unmaintained and about 200km is completely abandoned and a challenge even for motorists in 4×4 vehicles.
The rail network in Siberia was recently extended with the construction of a new line to a station across the Lena River from Russia’s diamond capital of Yakutsk.
Potentially this line could be extended further east to Magadan and the northern Pacific.
