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  #1  
Old Posted Sep 20, 2018, 10:31 PM
Razor Razor is offline
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Far Fetched Civil Projects That Yoo Would Love To See Happen

Tongue in cheek a little, but it could make sense.

My pick would be to build a canal, to extend the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the Pacific Ocean..Right along the Canada/ U.S border. Kind of of like the Panama canal on steroids.

Others?
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  #2  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2018, 10:14 PM
digitallagasse digitallagasse is offline
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HSR build out in the US to the extent of the interstate highway system. Extend the Gulf of California north up past the Salton Sea.
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  #3  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2018, 2:43 PM
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Originally Posted by digitallagasse View Post
HSR build out in the US to the extent of the interstate highway system. Extend the Gulf of California north up past the Salton Sea.
RE: HSR. Yes..North America is really far behind Europe and Asia in that department.Here in Canada, they've been talking a HSR though our busiest corridor for years now. Where roughly 20 million people live..Enough to warrant it.

This one is totally ridiculous, but how about a tunnel under the Atlantic ocean connecting Europe to North America..Complete with ventilation, rest stops and motels along the route..Heck even from Alaska to Mainland Russia,which I believe was talked about before.
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Old Posted Sep 24, 2018, 2:20 AM
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Vancouver island bridge
Freeway from Vancouver to Boenos Aires across the Americas
Trans Canada Freeway
Freeway from London to Beijing
Long Island-Connecticut bridge
Newfoundland-Labrador bridge
Ireland-UK tunnel
Straight of Gibraltar Bridge
Singapore - Sumatra bridge
Sumatra - Java bridge
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  #5  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2018, 3:36 PM
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Connect Japan to the mainland. Most likely via a link to South Korea (but then North Korea needs to stop being a rogue country to allow it to be useful for freight). Could also go via Sakhalin.

Pittsburgh to Harrisburg base tunnel (would allow HSR connection between Midwest and East Coast)

Reno to Auburn Base Tunnel
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  #6  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2018, 4:02 AM
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Boston Outer Harbor flood barrier
Springfield/Worcester base tunnel for inland route HSR (really palmer-Worcester)
Partially flood the Afar and Qattara depressions via canals for hydropower generation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattar...ession_Project
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  #7  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2018, 5:55 AM
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Extend the Arkansas River navigation system north to create a river port in Wichita creating a terminus for a good portion of the U.S. grain industry. Due to Wichita's elevation of 1,302 ft it would require a significant number of new dams and locks as the current terminus in the Verdigris River near Tulsa is at 610 ft.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_River
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  #8  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2018, 3:55 AM
CastleScott CastleScott is offline
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How about the Denver Water Dept "Big Straw" which would be a twin pipeline traveling from northeast Denver water plant near the Platte River and the Suncor refinery all the way to a point at the Missouri River south of Omaha, with the other running through eastern Colorado, the full length of both Kansas and Missouri to a spot on the Mississippi River just south of St Louis. In the proposal was large treatment plants/pumping centers in Nebraska near Hastings and one near Salina in Kansas all joining together at a new mega plant in northeast Denver (there were to be some smaller pumping stations along the way as well). I remember when this was first proposed when I lived in metro Denver back in the mid 2000s.
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  #9  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2018, 9:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by digitallagasse View Post
HSR build out in the US to the extent of the interstate highway system. Extend the Gulf of California north up past the Salton Sea.
I think extensional rifting will do that in a few million years. In fact, the Gulf of California could extend way north into the Great Basin in maybe 20 million years. Sea Floor Spreading, plate tectonics and all that jazz. But I agree, maybe man can accelerate the process by piping in or canaling in clean ocean water to clean up the Salton Sea. A clean Salton Sea would be great. Piping in from the Pacific would be more costly and the water would have to be pumped over the coastal mountains into the Coachella Valley, but power could be generated on the way down as the water descends & turns generators, so it wouldn't need that much power. A less costly option is to build a canal from the Gulf of California (very little power needed since it would be mostly flat) but Mexico would have to approve.

Last edited by CaliNative; Dec 3, 2018 at 10:10 AM.
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  #10  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2018, 10:13 AM
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Love to see Elon Musk Hyperloop transports everywhere...L.A. to San Diego in 10 minutes, L.A. to San Fran in 30 minutes etc. City center to city center. 600 mph. That would be my fave.
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  #11  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2019, 5:59 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor View Post
This one is totally ridiculous, but how about a tunnel under the Atlantic ocean connecting Europe to North America..Complete with ventilation, rest stops and motels along the route..Heck even from Alaska to Mainland Russia,which I believe was talked about before.

That would be awesome, if it wasn't for that pesky geological activity along the mid Atlantic ridge!!
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  #12  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2019, 5:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere View Post
...
Freeway from Vancouver to Boenos Aires across the Americas
Trans Canada Freeway
Freeway from London to Beijing
...
The Pan-American Highway almost gets you from Vancouver to Buenos Aires, there's just the matter of the Darien Gap.

There is a Trans-Canada highway so what are you proposing there?

With China's Belts and Roads projects, it wouldn't surprise me if you could physically drive from London to Beijing via a designated route someday. Not sure what the political realities are. There are roads that exist between London and Beijing (counting the Chunnel car train), although Google can't figure out how to get into China, which is a political problem, not a roads one because they definitely exist all across Russia, and into Mongolia, but somewhere between Mongolia and China, automated maps can't find routings - but they do exist.
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  #13  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2019, 3:31 AM
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How far fetched are we talking here? Like completely fantasy to see a freeway built through the Caribbean Islands that connect North America to South America or somewhat plausible like a nuke plant in eastern Oklahoma to replace fossil fuel plants? I can come up with a pretty big list.
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  #14  
Old Posted Mar 24, 2019, 1:19 AM
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A massive, justyfiable, freigh/passenger rail line stretching from the Gulf Coast to Quebec?

Cities as follows:

New Orleans
Mobile
Montgomery
Birmingham (Tuscaloosa & Lincoln)
Huntsville
Nashville (Spring Hill & Smyrna)
maybe Bowling Green
Louisville
Cincinnati
Dayton
Columbus:
STUB BRANCH: Pittsburgh
STUB BRANCH: Cleveland

Toledo
Detroit (Windsor)
London
Hamilton
Missassauga
Toronto
Oshawa
Ottawa
Montreal
Trois-Rivières
Quebec City

I think that would be one outstanding corridor if it were to be designated as a single line with freight and passenger trains traveling in each direction. Of course the branches to Pittsburgh and Cleveland would be timed to arrive in Columbus. I think it would do wonders.

Of course this kind of thing is highly unlikely to ever be established... but any thoughts?
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  #15  
Old Posted Mar 25, 2019, 1:48 AM
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I was always impressed by the 1960s scheme for the North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA), a gigantic, continental reorganizing of the water system for North America.


(Diagram from Sewell, W.R., "Water Across the American Continent," Geographical Magazine, Vol. XLVI, No. 9 (1974) from ResearchGate)

Broadly, water from the rainy Pacific Northwest and the snowmelts of Alaska would be captured and channeled south to green the deserts and quench the growing thirst of California, the U.S. Southwest, Texas, and Mexico. The central trenches of the Rocky Mountains would be used to form the great water channels, which would be naturally contained between the mountains. A chain of nuclear power plants would be required to initially pump water up to the higher elevations of the central Rockies, but the new reservoirs and channels would then create numerous opportunities for massive hydroelectric stations downstream to power the create cities that would arise from the dramatically increased agricultural fertility of the Southwestern and Midwestern regions.

The greater water flows, new channels, and redirected rivers would create a vast new canal transportation system across western Canada and the U.S., allowing river transport from the Great Lakes to use the transcontinental canal to reach ports on the Pacific Coast. The new Northwest Passage would literally be from the St. Lawrence or the Erie Canal to Vancouver. A similar network would reach the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico, paralleling for the West the Mississippi network of the Midwest. Actually, the Mississippi system would also reach the new Western Canadian canals reaching Vancouver. What the Grand Canal did for ancient China would be replicated for modern North America.

Oh, Brave New World...

Video Link


Video Link


Grandiose plans have grandiose costs, and so this idea largely died in the 1970s. However, the Soviet Union ruthlessly did it's own water resource mega-management version in Central Asia, which largely ended up killing the Aral Sea.

Last edited by Hindentanic; Jul 1, 2019 at 1:47 AM.
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  #16  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2019, 11:25 PM
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How come nobody's said Moon Base yet? Is this Earth only?
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  #17  
Old Posted Jun 25, 2019, 7:54 PM
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Here's one that that would refill Lake Chad using water diverted from a nearby river and pumped 128km up 180m to enter the Lake Chad basin.


Ubangi – Lake Chad Water Transfer Using Solar Option

A. Sample Project Specifications for the Solar Option
[N.B. cost estimates are in $US dollars.]

Intakes and Pumps: Four submerged intakes on the Ubangi River will supply the pumps and pipeline. The intakes will not require a dam and will screen for fish. Four independent pumping stations located on the north shore of the Ubangi in the CAR (above high river flow) will supply water to each of the four pipelines.

Pipelines: Four parallel conduits, 5 meters in diameter each, will convey water uphill from the Congo River Basin to the Lake Chad Basin. The IBWT pipelines will be 128 km in length and raise water 180 meters to the inter-basin crest.

Canals: Once the water is elevated to the inter-basin crest of the Lake Chad Basin, it will flow approximately 1000 km by gravity in natural waterways and improved canals to the Chari River, and thence to Lake Chad.

Solar Power: Recent cost reductions for silicon PV panels to less than $0.30/W (2) make solar power a viable replacement for hydroelectric power. Large arrays of solar panels (near the pumping site on the Ubangi River) will supply the power needed to pump a volume of 100 m3/s during 8 daylight hours (the daily period of intense sunshine).

Battery Pumping: Projected cost reductions for grid-scale lithium-ion batteries (3) to $100/kWh allow for nighttime pumping for 16 hours per day. Initially, only 1 of 4 of conduits will be pumped by battery power after sunset, giving 24 hours per day flow at 25 m3/s. Continuous pumping will keep water flowing at all times in canals and rivers to Lake Chad, assuring a minimum steady supply.

Cost of Solar Option: Installation of 375MW of solar panels will cost $135M. Installation of lithium-ion 1000MWh grid-scale battery will cost $130M. Total cost of Solar Option solar panels and a single grid-scale battery will be $267M (less than 10% of the cost of the hydroelectric dam).

Impact on Rivers: A volume of 100 m3/s of water pumped to Lake Chad will use 0.7% to 5% of the Ubangi River flow (4). Water pumped to Lake Chad is about 0.25% of average Congo River discharge to ocean (5). These rates of water transfer to Lake Chad are unlikely to affect the ecology or navigability of the Ubangi River. IBWT will not impact the planned Grand Inga hydroelectric development on the Congo River in the DRC. The pumped output of the Solar Option could double the Chari River flow to Lake Chad in April and May (6), during low water years.

Staged Construction: Unlike the hydroelectric dam, the Solar Option allows for staged construction and earlier pumping than from a dam. Shown below are the incremental approximate costs for each stage.

- Stage 1. One 5 m pipe; (8hr); requires 63MW solar; cost: $23M
- Stage 2. One 5 m pipe; (24hr); add 125MW solar + 1000MWh battery; cost: $175M
- Stage 3. Two 5 m pipes; (8hr & 24hr); add 63MW solar; cost: $23M
- Stage 4. Three 5 m pipes; (8hr, 8hr & 24hr); add 63MW solar; cost: $23M
- Stage 5. Four 5 m pipes; (8hr, 8hr, 8hr & 24hr); add 63MW solar; cost $23M

The total cumulative cost is $267M for the Solar Option. [NB: This cost estimate for the Solar Option does not include water intakes, pumps, pipelines, canals or new roads.]

Time to Fill Lake Chad: The completed Solar Option will pump 1.58 billion m3/year to Lake Chad (50% of the rate of the hydroelectric dam). Based on the CIMA Feasibility Study, solar pumping will raise Lake Chad by 50 cm and increase area by 3000 km2 in 1 year. It may take 2 to 5 years to restore the Lake Chad fishery, depending on competing domestic and irrigation water consumption, as well as water loss from evaporation.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jun 29, 2019, 11:25 PM
Razor Razor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hindentanic View Post
I was always impressed by the 1960s scheme for the North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA), a gigantic, continental reorganizing of the water system for North America.


(Diagram from Sewell, W.R., "Water Across the American Continent," Geographical Magazine, Vol. XLVI, No. 9 (1974) from ResearchGate)

Broadly, water from the rainy Pacific Northwest and the snowmelts of Alaska would be captured and channeled south to green the deserts and quench the growing thirst of California, the U.S. Southwest, Texas, and Mexico. The central trenches of the Rocky Mountains would be used to form the great water channels, which would be naturally contained between the mountains. A chain of nuclear power plants would be required to initially pump water up to the higher elevations of the central Rockies, but the new reservoirs and channels would then create numerous opportunities for massive hydroelectric stations downstream to power the create cities that would arise from the dramatically increased agricultural fertility of the Southwestern and Midwestern regions.

The greater water flows, new channels, and redirected rivers would create a vast new canal transportation system across western Canada and the U.S., allowing river transport from the Great Lakes to use the transcontinental canal to reach ports on the Pacific Coast. The new Northwest Passage would literally be from the St. Lawrence or the Erie Canal to Vancouver. A similar network would reach the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico, paralleling for the West the Mississippi network of the Midwest. Actually, the Mississippi system would also reach the new Western Canadian canals reaching Vancouver. What the Grand Canal did for ancient China would be replicated for modern North America.

Oh, Brave New World...

Video Link


Video Link


Grandiose plans have grandiose costs, and so this idea largely died in the 1970s. However, the Soviet Union ruthlessly did it's own water resource mega-management version in Central Asia, which largely ended up killing the Aral Sea.
I really like this one!. It kind of echoes my original post, but on a more grander
scale..A retirees dream!..Never mind taking a motor home across the continent. Just take a yacht from one of the great lakes, head to Vancouver, back track and take the Mississippi down to the gulf. New service /tourist villages would spring up everywhere along the route.
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