The Bering Strait Bridge Idea

For decades Sun Myung Moon has been talking about a highway around the world. The street project would start in Japan move across to Korea then move westwards across Russia and China towards Europe. In the other direction the first stop would be Alaska and then onwards through Canada, the USA and southwards through Central America make a great circle the South American continent until it ends in Brazil – something like that. On both sides there would be long stretches of free trade zones several kilometers wide. This way economic barriers would break down, then political and social systems would begin to merge, moving mankind closer and closer to the ideal of one world family.

Man needs worthwhile goals and this kind of vision can certainly rally towards substantial common efforts, may be even more worthwhile than putting people on the moon, Mars or Venus.

However, the idea of connecting the traffic routes of the world is not new at all. As far back as 1890, William Gilpin, the first governor of the Colorado Territory envisioned the Cosmopolitan Railway, a system of railways that would link the entire world. Almost 20 years before the Ford Model T, the first mass produced car, he can be forgiven for not thinking of a freeway.

Two years later, a then young engineer, Joseph Strauss, proposed to build a bridge across the Bering Strait. In more recent times a Chinese railway engineer, T.Y. Lin, suggested in 1968 to Ronald Reagan to build a bridge across that stretch of water. After the end of the cold war the idea became more popular. Today suggestions also come from the Russian side, like from railway engineer Anatoly Cherkasov.

Also, many other interesting ideas for infrastructure development projects exist. Here a page that lists a few.

The idea of building a bridge from Alaska to Siberia is not that far out of the world. A bridge accross the Bering Strait would have to be just over 80 km in length and cross waters that are between 30 and 50 meters deep. That would still break a few world records, but technologically not an impossible challenge, in spite of the cruel climate. Another approach – the suggestion of a tunnel project - also is alive and well today.

Now Sun Myung Moon joins the visionaries for a dry ground connection across the Bering Sea. On a recent millionaire’s conference in Korea he spoke about the plan to cross the Bering Strait with dry feet. But together with the idea of a tunnel between Japan and Korea his vision appears to be part of a larger, almost cosmic plan. The Washington Times has him quote William Seward, Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state, saying that America should look westward, towards Asia, for the fulfillment of its destiny.

It’s not entirely clear what path towards fulfillment Sun Myung Moon envisions. For the moment he just instructed a few Koreans to raise 1 – 2 billion US$. But in his untiring efforts to forge mankind into one worldwide family the Bering Strait Bridge seems to be just one small step towards breaking down the barriers. The first inter-racial, inter-religious, intercontinental Holy Blessing on the Diomede Islands may be just a few months away. May be there would also be an opportunity for a coronation.

By the way - there is an article on foreignLands.org with more background details on the Bering Strait Project.

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the old man