Stuff That Never Made It - but why?

[McColm]

Suspension bridge planned in 1981 for the English Channel

Plans were drawn up five years before the Channel tunnelwas dug.
Under Margaret Thatcher's government a motorway suspension bridge would have been built on 15 piers with spans between each of them. At 21 miles long it would have been the longest suspension bridge in the world, at 220ft above the Channel. At a cost of £3bn, toll charges would have paid for the bridge with an estimate of £220m a year.

[Stargazer]

The earliest ideas to bridge the gap between the British Islands and continental Europe are quite old in fact. Some artist's concepts date as far back as the late 18th century. However, both the limitations of technology and the shaky politics of the times (when the peace between France and Britain was fragile) never allowed for any serious research or engineering. All that time, somehow tunnels have always captured the imagination of engineers more than bridges... probably because they seemed more feasible (though we know of course both are technically extremely challenging). A 40-km long bridge remains a technical challenge even today, and I don't think the commercial advantages would make its construction profitable (has the cost of the Chunnel itself been covered after 16 years, I wonder?)

[PR19_Kit]

No Government supported crossing will EVER pay for itself, as they'll change the rules to make sure we still keep on paying of course. Like Road Tax it would become a 'Cash Cow' and part of their normal money grabbing.

Viz the Severn Bridge, er, sorry, it, or they, are Severn River Crossings, they aren't bridges..... When the old bridge was sold to a  FRENCH (!) Company in the 1990s, the plan was to charge tolls on both bridges until the new one had been paid for and the maintenance would then have been paid from the public purse. No-one believed that then, least of all those of us that use the bridges (crossings...) and so it has turned out. The owners have a legal right to increase the tolls above the rate of inflation till the end of time as far as I can see.

I still don't see why a hovercraft crossing to Normandy would be smoother than Dover -  Calais............

[Stargazer]

I still don't see why a hovercraft crossing to Normandy would be smoother than Dover -  Calais............

I never said that! I said that:
1°) In terms of fuel consumption/costs, a hovercraft might be more profitable on longer runs such as Dieppe-Newhaven than on short distances.
2°) Using a hovercraft on those long and often very rough lines would have been a relief for some of the passengers.
I NEVER said that it would have been different from the sea at Calais/Dover! When the sea is rough, it's rough everywhere! But it's one thing to suffer a rough sea for half an hour, it's another to do so for four hours!

[Hobbes]

I beg to differ.

There is still a market for sea crossings, that's why they've just built an extension at Dover and Calais docks. While the Chunnel may be faster in theory, in practice it takes only slightly less time, motorway to motorway, than a fast ferry. When you've been incarcerated on one of the Shuttles for over an hour, with no refreshments, no toilets, and damn all information about why the train is delayed, it rather concentrates the mind on the comfort of a ferry!

I might add I speak from personal experience there, and it took me phoning to the Chunnel HQ on my mobile phone, to get an answer when the train staff flatly refused to do so!

Unless you book a LONG time in advance the Chunnel is damned expensive too, especially of you are on the European side and are paying in Euros.

There is a market for sea crossings, yes: the cheap seats. Slow ferries can be more economical than the Chunnel (probably because they're still paying off the construction bill on the tunnel).
As for the comfort of the ferry: fair enough, the ferry offers more space to walk around, enjoy the view and buy stuff. The drawbacks are noise, vibration (more so on fast ferries), sea motion etc. As for sitting in port waiting for a delayed ferry, been there/done that. The Calais/Dover ports get mighty cold and boring after a while. Especially when you've just missed your ferry and have to wait 2 hours for the next one; another thing the Chunnel is better at.

[Weaver]

The chunnel is unpopular with parties of bikers numbering more than four, because bikes have to go on a special car, which holds four, and there's usually only one per train. The first four therefore cross the channel in record time, and then spend ages waiting for the next train with the other half of the party..... More than eight of you? Forget it, get the ferry.

[Gary]

I was and still am a fan of banana flavoured milk, but you just can't get it here any more. More rare than Twiglets here in Nova Scotia.

[Stargazer]

Actually that's funny because I am allergic to bananas... but as a kid I used to LOVE banana flavored milk... and have kept fond memories of it since. 35 years have gone and sometimes the taste comes back in my mind in a split second... They discontinued it early in the seventies here in France, never to be seen again, to my great dismay...

[McColm]

The chunnel is unpopular with parties of bikers numbering more than four, because bikes have to go on a special car, which holds four, and there's usually only one per train. The first four therefore cross the channel in record time, and then spend ages waiting for the next train with the other half of the party..... More than eight of you? Forget it, get the ferry.

But don't you just walk across oh revered one!!

[Nick]

Suspension bridge planned in 1981 for the English Channel

Plans were drawn up five years before the Channel tunnelwas dug.
Under Margaret Thatcher's government a motorway suspension bridge would have been built on 15 piers with spans between each of them. At 21 miles long it would have been the longest suspension bridge in the world, at 220ft above the Channel. At a cost of £3bn, toll charges would have paid for the bridge with an estimate of £220m a year.

Here's the plans...
http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/euroroute/

[Weaver]

The chunnel is unpopular with parties of bikers numbering more than four, because bikes have to go on a special car, which holds four, and there's usually only one per train. The first four therefore cross the channel in record time, and then spend ages waiting for the next train with the other half of the party..... More than eight of you? Forget it, get the ferry.

But don't you just walk across oh revered one!!

If only there wasn't so much damn traffic on the motorways, you could get enough run up for a jump.....

[McColm]

On a serious note,
No don't laugh, at these two proposals;

1) A tunnel/bridge from the far east of Russia (Cape Dezhnev,Chukotka) to Alaska ( Cape Prince of Wales) USA, under the Bering Strait or linking up by suspension bridges with the Diomede Islands .  The proposal dates back to Nicholas II, two things scuppered this idea the First World War and the Russian Revolution. This proposal was revived again but faded due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and again in 1998 with the Russian financial melt down. Although studies as late as June 2009 have shed new light on this project.

2) The worlds longest tunnel will be the 'Transatlantic Tunnel' linking London- UK to New York-USA. Or the alternative but near impossible route a tunnel from New Foundland emerging on the ice sheet of Greenland. Crossing Greenland and by bridge/tunnel to Iceland. Plough straight across Iceland to the Faeroe Islands and then onto Scotland.
I've watched 'Ice Truckers' but driving across Greenland has never been done before.

I know the cost of funding such projects will be high and flying to the states is still the cheaper option, but a rail link across the Atlantic. Dream on!!!

[simmie]

now I ain't no geologist(?)

A rock is a rock.

But, wouldn't the mid Atlantic rig be a slight inconveniance to any Trans-Atlantic tunnel??

[McColm]

now I ain't no geologist(?)

A rock is a rock.

But, wouldn't the mid Atlantic rig be a slight inconveniance to any Trans-Atlantic tunnel??

They'd go round it. Who said the tunnel had to be straight?

[The Rat]

now I ain't no geologist(?)

A rock is a rock.

But, wouldn't the mid Atlantic rig be a slight inconveniance to any Trans-Atlantic tunnel??

They'd go round it. Who said the tunnel had to be straight?

Since it goes pretty well pole to pole going around it means that it would become the trans-atlantic-arctic ocean-tunnel. But there may be a pass somewhere along it that it could travel through. I think a bigger problem would be plate tectonics, as the continents drift apart they would stretch the tunnel.