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Extreme Engineering: Bridging the Bering Strait

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Extreme Engineering

Bridging the Bering Strait

Already on the drawing boards, The Bridge rejoins North America and Asia. It will generate unprecedented economic growth on both continents and is another link in The Great Global Highway introduced in ETI I. Its 220 spans cross the Arctic Ocean over 55 miles of violent seas and crushing ice. Each span is 1200 feet long, with two center spans 1800 feet long and high enough to accommodate large ships. The bridge's road deck is a giant double-box, allowing for two-way truck, car and train traffic, as well as oil, gas and electric pipelines. The bridge's spans rest on hundreds of concrete gravity piers, each weighing millions of pounds to withstand the pressure of millions of tons of moving Arctic ice. Because the weather is among the fiercest on earth, the entire bridge is encased in concrete, including the cables. Potential disasters will come from ice, ships ice-bound, grinding into piers, and from fires in the inner box caused by vehicle collisions or train derailments.
$1.99  |  Amazon Video on Demand
Length: 44:00  Aired: 5/3/2003

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