Russian official proposes 12,000 mile, intercontinental superhighway

MOSCOW, March 25 (UPI) -- A Russian official has proposed plans for a 12,400-mile, inter-continental superhighway and railway that could connect London to Alaska.

Head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin announced the plans at a meeting of the Russian Academy of Science, according to the Siberian Times.

The Trans-Eurasian Belt Development would connect with existing networks across Europe. Although there are roads throughout Russia, the quality decreases when travelling eastward. The highway would follow a similar route to the 6,000-mile-long Trans-Siberian Railway.

"This is an inter-state, inter-civilization, project. It should be an alternative to the current, which has caused a systemic crisis," Yakunin said. "The project should be turned into a world 'future zone', and it must be based on leading, not catching, technologies."

The plans could link with the Channel Tunnel, which connects the United Kingdom with France to the highway, and a rail network could be extended across the Bering Strait into Alaska.

Yakunin has been working on the project's development with director of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichiy, and Russian scientist Gennady Osipov.

The plan would also construct a new high-speed railway and new oil and gas pipelines.

Head of Russian Academy of Science, Vladimir Fortov, called the project "very ambitious and expensive," but added that it would "solve many problems in the development of the vast region."

"It is connected with social programs, and new fields, new energy resources, and so on," he said.

"The idea is that basing on the new technology of high-speed rail transport we can build a new railway near the Trans-Siberian Railway with the opportunity to go to Chukotka and Bering Strait and then to the American continent," Fortov added.

Russian officials hope the proposed plans increase tourism and make Russia a global transportation hub.