The Insane Plan to Build a Bridge to Ireland

[@megaprojects9649]

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[@stlouisix3]

The Celtic Crossing is a wonderful name. It should be between Ireland and Scotland.

[@Paddyman8869]

You didn't hear about the new bridge in Athlone now that's mad

[@paddyjoe1884]

Another issue you missed, the railway gauge in Ireland is different from that in the UK, as Ireland (both north and south) uses a form of broad gauge, while the UK uses standard gauge.

[@claireway-6545]

​@@paddyjoe1884of course it is!

[@jaynedavies2757]

OH the irony of a bridge to Ireland going across a actual real life mine field. And how would we know if the IRA attacked it for real too

[@captainmagenta899]

You could set up a whole sub-channel devoted to Johnson's flights of fancy called Megabollocks.

[@icantthinkofaname987]

as shit a PM as Boris was, I will always love him as a figure of exceedingly British madness

[@davidioanhedges]

He had two types of projects ... those essentially done by other people that he took credit for, that worked ... and those he started that are largely hated, and/or failed ... ...and ULEZ, which he started, heavily advocated, the Ministry of transport heavily pushed, and still do ... but they blame the Labour Mayor for because it's unpopular with Conservative MP's and Conservative votors

[@PanglossDr]

@@icantthinkofaname987 Do you really think lunacy should be celebrated? That has always seemed to me to be the most idiotic British trait.

[@STWLandO]

Megabollocks is 🔥

[@lemonaid2216]

Maybe set up another channel about Mrs Thatcher and EU vanity projects like the channel tunnel. What a load of "megabollocks" that was. What about Crossrail in London? More megabollocks and worthy of a channel dedicated to the coalition government vanity projects.

[@SamButler22]

They should build 5 bridges between the 5 nations and a giant roundabout above the Isle of Man

[@FloatingOnAZephyr]

And each bridge should look like a leg.

[@GG-jw8pt]

The Isle of man could be a big service station with free WiFi ,make itself useful 👍

[@countertopconfessions9975]

5? I'm counting 4. What's the 5th?

[@SamButler22]

@@countertopconfessions9975 England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland

[@RobertK1993]

​@@SamButler22Northern Ireland is likely to merge with either independent Scotland or Ireland soon enough .😂

[@RicardoBSB95-sh8wu]

I think people underestimate just how wild and deep the irish sea is.

[@barryhuston6348]

It's ~50m deep from Bangor to Merseyside. It's rougher to sail in the Mersey than it is the Irish sea.

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

It's shallow AF. There are lakes deeper than it.

[@wilsistermans1118]

The depth (110 m) is not a big problem. For a tunnel wild water is no problem. During the building of a bridge wildwater is a problem. The construction itself can be made to withstand the rough sees. If the bridge is completed the bridge will have to be closed several times a year because of high winds, bur not as often as the ferries are taken down.

[@FloatingOnAZephyr]

​@@skateboardingjesus4006It's 100m deep right down through the centre. Google the depth map. Yes there are deeper lakes, but that really isn't saying anything.

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

@@FloatingOnAZephyr I know exactly how deep it is and where. I live in Dublin and have fished all over the Irish Sea for 3 decades. And yes, it is saying something, which is that it's very shallow, even though the depth varies.

[@MsHarpsychord]

As somebody living in the North-West of Ireland we would be much happier with a train network connecting Galway to Donegal through Sligo thanks.

[@phantomechelon3628]

Couldn't you just get Finn McCool to finish the Giant's Causeway, which he started then got interrupted by that other fella? 😁

[@JM-cu6ex]

@@phantomechelon3628 nah he finished it, the other guy ripped it up

[@alanf3611]

Took us long enough to get to this point and as much as I don't have any issues the u.k. in most departments, best left alone me thinks. 😊 🇮🇪

[@brianlawlor4221]

Only 100ish years ago they starved millions of us to death man.... Never be forgotten. Ever.

[@davidg5898]

Why not just have Finn McCool build it? I mean, he already built a bridge connecting Scotland and Ireland before, and that one wasn't even too far away from there either.

[@nialler78]

Yeah but what if a Scottish giant smashes it up after seeing the giant baby?

[@LFire12]

Yeah but he was from Leinster so effectively the Tories would be outsourcing the job to the EU.

[@lizardlegend42]

Jesus I despise that spelling of his name. Not your fault, I know it's a somewhat common anglicisation, but still it burns my eyes 😂.

[@davidg5898]

@@lizardlegend42Agreed. I just opted to go with what most of the English speaking world would recognize even if it isn't culturally correct.

[@mummymary2218]

Was just going to say that!😆💚☘️🇮🇪

[@qwertyTRiG]

The fact that Ireland has a different rail gauge to Britain (and the rest of Europe) is also worth mentioning.

[@mariotriforce]

Not that trains can't have multiple gauges but it would be pricey even for freight & would slow stuff down, at that I'm not against better connectivity to Europe from Ireland but it's unlikely even in my lifetime 😅

[@caoimhinmarsh]

Doesn't northern ireland have the same gauge as mainland UK though?

[@mariotriforce]

@@caoimhinmarsh nope, Irish gague is countrywide weirdly enough it is also the gague in New Zealand & New south Wales?-or somewhere spefically in Australia-

[@ryananderson3721]

I travel from Northern Ireland to Dublin on the train so is that line the only uk gauge in Ireland?

[@kevinwalsh9467]

@@ryananderson3721 There's no UK gauge lines in use anywhere on the island.

[@Provocateur3]

About that floating bridge: We've got two of them crossing Lake Washington on the east side of Seattle. You could show the folks the film of the northern one sinking years ago. True, there was a storm, but this is an inland lake, not the ocean.

[@TalesOfWar]

There's the issue of it being a shipping lane too. Not particularly busy, but ships pass it regularly enough for a floating bridge to be less practical. Never mind the extremely rough nature of the Irish Sea.

[@mnomadvfx]

The Irish Sea isn't technically the ocean either. Neither is the North Sea. They are both the submerged larger landmass of north west Europe that was all connected during the Ice age and still for millennia after it ended.

[@mickharrison9004]

Impossible to do anything like that in the Irish sea ,the crossing from Stranraer to Belfast is roughest seas in the world .

[@simonpitt8145]

@@mnomadvfx You strike me as someone who would both miss the point on a hedgehog and who is a WOW down the pub.

[@daraorourke5798]

The North Channel is a strait connecting the Irish Sea with the Atlantic. It gets pretty rough ...

[@soundslave]

We can't even build a new train track between London and Birmingham. Our politicians are a joke.

[@mnomadvfx]

HS2 is not a regular train track, plus the more I hear about it the more it looks like a Tory money laundering operation rather than any legitimate construction project. They're not a joke, they're just criminals wearing expensive tailored suits to look respectable as they rob us blind. The joke is the 'great' British public that keeps votign for them despite the abundance of evidence that they truly not only do not care for us, but are in fact strip mining both the public resources and the taxpayer budget.

[@stuartmacdonald9289]

The UK government are talking about scapping HS2, having wasted millions on it and wrecking the countryside. Its time we scrapped this government, they are the biggest waste of tax payers money in the UK.

[@graememckay9972]

We can but the politicians need to work out how they and their mates can profit from it first.

[@soundslave]

@@graememckay9972 hey profit from it by developing the nations economy with infrastructure improvements... Oh wait, you didn't mean tht kind of profit.

[@229andymon]

@@graememckay9972Literal truth…

[@alexguest9937]

The A75 is the road which links Dumfries to Stranraer, and the road to Portpatrick splits off this shortly before the A75 gets to Stranraer. The A75 is mostly SINGLE carriageway (one lane each way) so the whole of that lot - some 75 miles of it - would require dual-carriageway upgrade, along with the bypassing of Crocketford and Springholm, two villages which the road currently goes straight through. Even now the A75 is constantly being completely CLOSED for periods of time for maintenance, isolating Stranraer and the ferry port at Cairnryan from the rest of the UK to the east and south. You should see the amount of artic' lorries that use these ferries, and the A75, going between the UK and Ireland! In addition to that the train line from Dumfries to Stranraer which used to operate was shut and dismantled in the 1950s due to Mr Beechings wonderful cuts. So if the bridge was to operate a train service that would all need to be put back into place (the same 75 mile length). Not that these infrastructure projects are necessarily unwanted in the area, indeed there is a petition you can sign to help bring back the Dumfries - Stranraer line. Most people want that (I would say) along with the upgrading of the A75 to dual carriage status. The point is that to connect the bridge to the rest of southern UK (ie England) these infrastructure projects would HAVE to be put in place as well, therefore adding significantly to the cost of the bridge/tunnel itself. As a denizen of Stranraer myself, I would guess that this is one of the main reasons why, when Boris Johnson was 'injected with a shot of reality' he dropped the project so swiftly and completely; because it brought into stark focus the relatively impoverished state of the infrastructure of the Galloway area. And the need to fix these issues BEFORE even contemplating the bridge. And he didn't even think to look at the lack of infrastructure either side of the proposed bridge before he went and spent all the money on the feasibility study. A simple look on google earth would have shown him. Utter f*ckwh*t.

[@KevOSMusic]

Having done the crossing fairly recently, I was surprised at the A75 & the quality of it. (driving from England to Belfast). Honestly, I just can't understand Unionism at this stage. If there was a proper Unionist attitude in Westminster, they'd be actively working on improving interconnectivity across the UK. That route has so much potential without a bridge/tunnel but the infrastructure is not there to support it.

[@grandaddyoe1434]

@@KevOSMusic It would benefit Ulster more than England, but I doubt they'd ever help to fund it . . .

[@Astroman1958]

Speaking as someone from northern Ireland, can I just say.......we don't want it. In the same way you wouldn't pull down a fence between you and your neighbor, we are quite happy to be a boat ride away. If the government wanted to help, it could subsidize the ferry's so our goods were the same price as the rest of the uk. And that would still be 100 times less expensive than a bridge.

[@ifv2089]

Think of the jobs 😂

[@canzukcommonwealth7309]

In 10 years time when these ferries need to be replaced are they really cheaper than having a bridge that would stand for the next 100 years?

[@hadeees]

@@canzukcommonwealth7309 you still have to take care of the bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransico is being constantly painted 365. Basically once they are done they start again.

[@Astroman1958]

@@canzukcommonwealth7309 Yes, they would be much cheaper. In any event, they are Commercial enterprises, privately owned. I'm only suggesting they get subsidized.

[@jameso9221]

@@ifv2089 from the ferry companies

[@jedsithor]

I think the best chance of a bridge or tunnel happening is if it's between the Ireland and Wales and if it's a joint UK/EU project. While it would be longer than either of the proposed sites between Northern Ireland and Scotland, if we put aside the costs of building it and the various construction and upkeep issues and look only at future utility, I think it makes more sense to go from the relative middle of one island to the relative middle of the other. If you're driving from London in the UK or Cork in Ireland, driving to Wicklow or Wales respectively is going to be preferable to driving to Antrim/Scotland to cross over. The main reason to connect Northern Ireland to Scotland seems to be political, in order to create a direct link between Northern Ireland and Britain. While it would be the shortest route between the islands, it wouldn't be the most convenient for the majority on both islands. It's also possible that by the time the project is finished, the political situation of Northern Ireland and the UK may have changed. 30 years from now, Scotland might not be part of the UK and Northern Ireland might not exist. It's entirely possible that a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland could end up being a project funded by the UK to connect two pieces of land that end up not being part of the UK by the time it's finished.

[@t0m_mcc]

Truth

[@hoixthegreat8359]

@@whatsMyNameAgainAgain scot nats are always an insane bunch. how about the fact scotland spends far more than england, when compared to tax revenues? the oil revenues don't even come close to accounting for that. it's like brexiteers, except even more deluded.

[@Scott-bh2qb]

You just assumed the "the UK" still exists when Scotland leaves. Such a colonised mind.

[@jedsithor]

@@Scott-bh2qb Given that I'm Irish, the "colonised mind" thing doesn't apply. The UK would still exist if Scotland and Northern Ireland left it though. It would be the United Kingdom of England and Wales. In saying that, Scotland leaving could prompt Wales to decide to leave too, in which case the UK would end as it would then just be the United Kingdom of England, at which point you may as well just call it England and drop the UK bit.

[@Scott-bh2qb]

@@jedsithor there was no kingdom in Wales to unite. The Act of Union 1707 United the kingdoms of England and Scotland. That would be legally dissolved if one of the two actors left. Like I said - you have a colonised mind.

[@mikekinghan9783]

Just a detail at 8:12, but the Galloway route supposedly from Portpatrick to Larne is shown by a dotted line running from Portpatrick to Donaghdee - a very small town with a tiny fishing harbour, 40 miles by road from the port of Larne, in a different county, with Belfast Lough in between.

[@daraorourke5798]

But only 6 miles from the throbbing hub of Bangor!

[@JesusEffingChrist602]

@@daraorourke5798 Absolute shithole that is Bangor!*

[@SpaceDogGlobalEntertainment]

And not to mention that Donaghdee is ten times larger than Portpatrick, Portpatrick has a population of 600 people and there’s literally no room whatsoever for a bridge unless they destroyed the port, which the town relies on to survive. Plus a bridge would destroy the town’s economy, local businesses with a sea view, the port, nobody would want to visit it since the peace and quiet that we have now wouldn’t exist. Not to mention that while there is infrastructure, it’s infrastructure meant to support a town of 600 people, the traffic alone would destroy it.

[@davidioanhedges]

Boris's last bridge project was only 366 metres long... It cost £43m to not even start to build it ...

[@roadwarrior144]

Sir Humphrey Appleby would be immeasurably proud. LOLZ

[@plugsocket9432]

Blame Khan for cancelling the bridge in London.

[@jennymckinnon9528]

@@plugsocket9432no. blame REALLY

[@dp8739.]

@@plugsocket9432 yeah, to save £200m on a vanity project, you pleb.

[@arranodoherty4372]

Look at hs2😮

[@alexmiller7721]

At the time, this whole fiasco reminded me of a similar one from just over 100 years ago, when some smart cookies in London decided to draw a line on a map between Inverness and Ullapool and said, "Let's build a railway here!" Having settled on *where* this railway would be built, they sent somebody up to see *how* it would be built. They guy they sent took one look at the terrain, went straight back to London and told them to forget they had ever come up with the idea.

[@davymckeown4577]

I was once tasked to escort the ATO (bomb disposal team) to a country park on the County Down coast due to munitions which had washed up on the beach from the Beaufort Dyke. Turned out in this case they weren't explosive, rather they were phosphorus impregnated cylinders used in WW1 steam engines to increase steam pressure when required. They are still dangerous as they spontaneously combust when they dry out, a fact the park ranger was unaware of when he placed one in his tractor's trailer and went for lunch. It didn't end well for his trailer but the tractor was okay.

Johnson proposed this purely to pander to the DUP due to the specific political situation of the time.

[@hugojames85]

The main reason why a bridge from Britain to Ireland is "never gonna happen" is because no sane person has ever even suggested it.

[@RobertK1993]

People who suggested it won't go back to work in Stormont DUP😂

[@RonTodd-gb1eo]

No Westminster government would spend that much money that far from London.

[@tedcrilly46]

The idea only ever had any limelight when Bojo used it as a psychological manipulation of the British public. Bojo NEVER had any intention for such a bridge, any more than he believed in a bridge to Mars. Not for 1 second.

[@kurtpunchesthings2411]

from an Irish man in theory it would be cool as hell in reality it's not practical to do this assuming you could overcome the challenges of building the bridge it would be closed numerous days every year due to bad weather plus it would cost at least 13 Billion Euro/Pounds even if the UK and Irish Governments split the cost it's still ridiculous because i know for a fact there's thousands of better things to spend 6.5 Billion on then 1 Bridge in the UK and Ireland

[@danke1150]

@@kurtpunchesthings2411 We send billions to foreign countries for no benefit to ourselves.

[@garethmurtagh2814]

When gas and electricity interconnectors were laid across the North Channel in the 1990’s hundreds of phosphorus shells disturbed by the work washed up on the beaches on either side. The whole thing was just nuts

[@TalesOfWar]

In a way, that's good long term. It means less crap floating about where we don't know about it. I wonder how feasible it would be to blow up the bigger known caches under water? Which then reminds me of the wreck of that liberty ship in the Thames estuary with enough munitions on it to cause an explosion equivalent to a low yield nuclear bomb.

[@brendansheahan4908]

Yes, the SS Richard Montomery. I can walk to the beach on the norrh coast of the Isle of Sheppey and see the masts sticking out of the sea.

[@mspicer3262]

@@robertlee6338 the operative word in your post is "yet". It's only a matter of time before something does happen, and the Montgomery becomes the devastator of the estuary. And phosphorus shells are ridiculously dangerous, they don't even have to catch fire to kill you. You can absorb a bunch of phosphorus that will go on to shut down your organs, like the liver, kidneys, and heart...

[@dcanmore]

there's over a million tons of ordnance in the North Channel, and about 1400 tons in the SS Richard Montgomery @@TalesOfWar

[@cedvelt]

Lets build a tunnel from ireland to France going underneath GB!

[@nos9784]

I like your thinking. But, lets do that as a bridge, so you can laugh at all the british people from above!

[@marquisdemoo1792]

As a Brit I would vote for that. Take those damn Nolan Transport lorries off our roads.

[@baldy3405]

@@marquisdemoo1792under England u mean 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🍻 🇮🇪

[@marquisdemoo1792]

@@baldy3405And Wales, they come into Pembroke!

[@baldy3405]

@@marquisdemoo1792 true 👍

[@philread7668]

Johnson couldn't even get a footbridge across the Thames done.

[@TalesOfWar]

Because his garden bridge was fucking stupid. He has a habit of taking other peoples ideas, putting the Boris slant on them and gets credit for it even if its dumb. The "Boris Bikes" for example were actually a Ken Livingstone thing, but he took ownership of it when he became Mayor. Or his idea to build a new mega airport in the Thames Estuary. That idea has been floated (no pun intended) for the last 100 years or so give or take.

[@Snagprophet]

@@TalesOfWar getting rid of the bendy buses was definitely Johnson's because it was so politicised.

[@barneylaurance1865]

@@TalesOfWar And because it's already less than 15 minutes walk between the Waterloo and Blackfriars bridge on the longer side of the river. There was never a need to put another bridge in between them.

[@TalesOfWar]

@@Snagprophet I still dont get the hate for the bendy busses. We had a few routes up here in Manchester with them too, they were perfect for more capacity on routes that had low bridges that meant a double decker wasn't suitable. They vanished up here too not long after they did down in London. You see them quite a lot on the continent still.

[@infrared337]

@@Snagprophet What do you mean... politicized bendy busses? They exist all across Europe and other continents too. They are great for larger capacity. How can you politicize such a thing, or why even get rid of it.

[@jpmkiv]

The Galloway route doesn't point to Larne on the map. It's North of Belfast lough, which it is pointing South of in the pic.

[@dermboss402]

You know what we do need in ireland? A proper western Rail network. One that goes from cork+kerry->limerick->athenry(galway)->castlebar->knock->sligo->donegal. That would be the biz

[@rapier1954]

For sure

[@afivey]

High speed rail connecting west coast urban areas from north to south would be excellent. The relative economic advantage of Dublin was for for a long time seen as "the opportunities" but that's now mismanaged into a renters nightmare. Increased investment in areas outside of Dublin would both increase quality of life in the West of Ireland and undermine vulture landlords investment in Dublin since its not the "economic monopoly" it was.

[@James-cd7dl]

Didnt they already have this but pulled it all down due to the rise of the car

[@dermboss402]

@@James-cd7dl yeah years back. Lot of the old tracks for turned into cycling paths. But it would be nice now. With better planning behind it. Especially since everyone is trying to encourage public transport nowadays

[@dereks1264]

"...it's unlikely that future administrations will have any interest in wedding themselves to a known political laughing stock..." Is this in reference to the bridge or to Boris Johnson?

[@kiwipewe8048]

Yes.

[@TalesOfWar]

@@kiwipewe8048 You beat me to it lol. Have your thumbs up.

[@TheManLab7]

Seems like a job for Brunel. Everyone use to say he was mad and that things he made would fall down and there still standing to this day. If anyone could do it, then he definitely could that's for sure

[@kenoliver8913]

Everyone said he was mad because he consistently sent his shareholders broke. He was a great and innovative engineer that has left us some marvellous stuff, no doubt, but his extreme engineering mostly lost money, as extreme architecture and engineering generally does.

[@TalesOfWar]

To be fair, not everything he built stayed up. We have survivor bias, though most of it did because he over-engineered the shit out of things. Hence their extreme cost. His instance of using a wider 7ft rail gauge on the GWR made things orders of magnitude more expensive to build than the standard gauge as you needed larger embankments, much longer curves and much larger bridges and tunnels, but it benefited us down the line (pun intended) when we moved to standard and now had a legitimate high speed rail network by default. At least high speed for the time. You can still see the size difference at somewhere like Paddington Station where they didn't reconfigure the platforms, and just have big gaps between them where the wider track once was. He also put holes in the struts holding up the roof to run cables and piping though for the future expansion of the station. You can see them if you look closely. They were never used though, but still there if they were needed.

[@mjhsinclair]

In some ways that’s a reasonably decent outcome. The study was expensive but it stopped a mistake. Versus, say, HS2 where similar warnings weren’t heeded.

[@GrrMeister]

*I think it be a "Bridge Too Far" !*

[@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188]

Our friendly Danish neighbors in Norway have an extremely deep Fiord: "Sognefjorden", which is mostly stopping the traffic on the main road up through Norway! Much too deep for a bridge but they have plans for a floating, Undersea Tunnel, kept hanging below pontoons on the surface! Also a Tunnel on stilts, below the water. But if in need of advises concerning Traffic Investments, we in Denmark have been building major bridges and tunnels for the last many years, also crossing main traffic routes at sea, so we would be the place to ask for help and building assistance!!! During a Premeeting for the Engineers on the new 18 km, Danish built undersea tunnel to Germany, a German Engineer told a Dane, that for Germany this would be "The Tunnel of a Lifetime", but for the Danes - just another Bridge/Tunnel!! We would have to turn the plans around, of course, as both the English and the Irish drives in the wrong direction 🤔!

[@keelan270]

I have an idea. What about a sort of floating bridge that didn’t need to be built all the way. It might be only 50 meters long or less. You could drive onto it with your car and the bridge would physically float along to its end point, almost like a sea vehicle of sort. It would have to be powered by fuel of course & have a bridge controller in the bridge of the bridge but I believe this idea could revolutionize cross-sea travel.

[@paulohagan3309]

I think that's already been invented. It's called a ferry ...

[@jordieg-us4ee]

​@@paulohagan3309was just going to say this 😂👍

[@davidwilson6577]

Well I thought you'd comment was funny Keelan.

[@keelan270]

@@davidwilson6577 Thank you David 🥲😌

[@BrightonandHoveActually]

The 21st Century proposal can be considered to be attributable not so much to a Megaproject as a MegaPLONKER. A note on the animations: The UK and Ireland both drive on the left so even if a bridge or tunnel were built it seems unlikely they would drive on the right whilst using the crossing - notwithstanding that the bridge between Hong Kong and Macau does just that.

[@richdurbin6146]

For a government project, a million pounds doesn't seem like that much. I'd argue it was worth doing just to establish the actual cost and difficulty of the thing. The study is also a starting point if the project idea is revisited a few decades from now when technology has advanced.

[@MoA-Reload...]

The Kintyre route proposal was particularly hilarious. I'm from Campbeltown which is in the south of the Argyll peninsula and all to aware how much of a mess the A83 down the peninsula is. I also worked at sea so also aware of how the tides and currents are out there. Not the place to sit anything down and hope it's still there when you look back to secure it. There was already a heavily subsidised ferry route that ran C'town to Ballycastle operated by Argyll & Antrim Steam Packet company which were part of Seacat/Hoverspeed which in turn was owned by Seacontainers... A massive international company so not exactly lacking in money to throw at things. When the subsidies dryed up they pulled the route in a heartbeat because it was a money pit of a route... And that was with the MV Claymore which was 'sold' to steam packet from Cal Mac at an hilariously cut price. Even with all the financial help it never made any money. A massive draw back was always that drive down the A83. It's 130 miles from Glasgow and if you know the road, 3 to 3 1/2 hour drive. If you don't then 4 hours if you want to get to the end in one piece. There is also an entire section known as the Rest n Be Thankful that is prone to massive land slides and the alternative route when the Rest is blockedis even more "Fun". It's known as the Old Military Road. In winter if there's snow on the Military Road and the Rest gets blocked with a slide, then the peninsula basically becomes and island. I love my wee home Toon BUT the notion of having such a massive project like a bridge to NI jump off from there is nothing short of insane... Unless the objective is to burn a butt load of money, waste a lot of ppls time and ensure the A83 takes its place as the deadliest road in Britain which it could probably quite easily do if the traffic using it gets any busier.

[@NorthOntarian]

Longest bridge I've been on is the Confederation bridge connecting Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick, its about 12km long. my favorite part of it is on the way into P.E.I there are no tolls but on the way out they charge you.. talk about a tourist trap lol

[@mickharrison9004]

They used to do the same on prince of Wales bridge ,between England and Wales charge to go sheepshagger land 😂 ,whilst traveling to England was free they made that free not long ago .

[@callumgordon1668]

It was never meant to be built. It’s a distraction from failure. It’s also supposed to pretend Johnson was strengthening the “precious bonds of Union” as Scots turn to independence and Irish to reunification.

[@setyeva0]

yep ...just Johnson pointing at squirrels while fleecing anyone he could.

[@babalonkie]

Well the problem is 50% resolved... got rid of Johnson... just need to get rid of the Tories... Then the islands can start at least start moving with common sense.

[@colinharbinson8284]

@@babalonkie who do you suggest takes over?.

[@babalonkie]

@@bernardfitzsimons6942 That's down to them... it don't negatively effect me in anyway.

[@babalonkie]

@@colinharbinson8284 Anyone BUT Tories... you don't need a big brain to see that in 12 years they have only destroyed EVERYTHING.

[@wilsistermans1118]

In the future it is likely that a tunnel (or bridge) across the Irish sea will be build. The mail route has the most economic potential as it ends close to Dublin and on the Welsh side the needed infrastructure, with a direct connection to Liverpool and London is not very far away. Taking the length, depth and hars weather conditions to account it would probably a tunnel build with a combination of techniques.

[@caezar55]

A tunnel is more likely than a bridge but realistically neither is likely

[@aesma2522]

Will we need to move more stuff and people in the future than now ? I'm not sure about that. It's not like Ireland is isolated, ferries (and airplanes) work pretty well.

[@24327355]

England would never give the go ahead for a S/Ireland a bridge or Tunnel ...half the Irish hate them the other half would not return.,.for NO benifit to England , come on what do they buy from S/ Ireland. not even spuds these days, not a chance , And Im bloody sure the Celtic tiger died a while back, so the N/IRISH , SCOTs WELSH and finaly the English PAY for it.....aye right you are then

[@wilsistermans1118]

@@aesma2522 Probably we need to move more stuff and people in the future. The costs of mega infrastructure is dropping (relatively), while the costs of ferry's and planes will rise. At some point in the future it will be economically cheaper to build a bridge or tunnel as maintaining a ferry.

[@MrSchizoid405]

A bridge or tunnel might be built in the year 2500 when man has colonized and terraformed mars. The technology and economic benefit just isn't there.

[@davidjernigan7576]

When the video started talking about a bridge across the Irish sea I was thinking that the weather gets too nasty there for that to work, and I've never been there.

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

The Irish Sea is a hellish place in any kind of storm. I've seen it, and sailed it, often enough

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

That was my second thought. A vision of horizonal icicles sticking out into the road from the railings.

[@ronald3836]

And the reason you were never there is the weather gets too nasty ;--)

[@christopherhume8896]

It would be fine during our two weeks of summer. 😂

[@tyrport]

I live near Seattle where 3 floating bridges existed. Incompetent public employees sunk one. None of them are pleasant in rough weather. They are LAKE bridges. The Irish Sea would break the bridge.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

I never heard of a floating bridge for a city. Those look stupid what the hell? Stops boat traffic.. Wonder why they didn't consider a tunnel bridge. The article says they couldn't do a suspension bridge as it would be too wide, and a regular column bridge wasn't feasible. Anyway those bridges are incredibly old. Maybe technology could improve them, but I absolutely agree. A floating structure of any kind seems absolutely ludicrous in the Irish Sea which is notoriously dangerous.

[@aluisious]

You Dutch are all going to be swimming soon. Building below sea level is incomprehensibly foolish.@@marktg98

[@briangarrow448]

The lawsuit about the Lacey Murrow bridge sinking was settled with the insurers of the private contractors, Traylor Brothers, paying out over 20 million dollars and the state not paying anything. The employees of the contractor were held responsible for their decisions to leave the hatches open. State employees were not responsible.

[@kevadu]

There's an alternative to a conventional floating bridge that might actually work: a floating submerged tunnel. Basically the idea is you can still have pontoons on the surface providing flotation but they're being used to suspend an underwater immersed tunnel. The underwater tunnel would be deep enough to avoid most weather conditions (and ship traffic) but unlike a conventional immersed tunnel it doesn't have to lie on the actual sea floor. That can be very helpful in deep water. To be sure, such a thing has never actually been built before. But it's not a completely crazy idea, there have been many such proposals in the past and the idea seems theoretically sound. Immersed tunnels are fairly mature technology and this really just involved suspending underwater rather than having it lie on the sea floor. There was even a proposal to use this for a crossing to Ireland (as the picture at 14:37 kind of shows), but it's kind of a shame Simon didn't really talk about it.

[@Cthulhuforabettertomorrow]

I’m from Vancouver and I remember that. Forget floating bridges, the Alex Fraiser almost went over because putting piles into bedrock is hard.

[@ballyhigh11]

Nobody EVER took this proposal seriously. Least of all its critics. It's never, ever going to happen in the lifetimes of anyone currently living.

[@tommyrotton9468]

Boris did, but he is a midwit

[@ellozarios]

WRONG they have, the reason they can't is the amount of dumped amunitions.

[@Snagprophet]

@@ellozarios why not blow them up?

[@captiannemo1587]

Just spreads the UXO out all over the sea floor

[@ellozarios]

@@Snagprophet aparently there are millions and everywhere, including as the video says some radioactive remains of some sort discharged from a reprocesing plant called Sellafield plus others uknown. They can't be cleared, can't be disturbed with out releasing radioactivity to the levels in the 70's. its not like the SS Richard Montgomery, on the Thames estuary, its like all Ukraine minefields but underwater and contaminated by radioactivity, they dumped for decades, that only the official story.

[@zafarsyed6437]

How would the Galloway route handle the winters?? Tuskar route is a possibility if it's a triple-decker.

[@SpaceDogGlobalEntertainment]

I have a caravan in Portpatrick, and let me tell you, they don’t even let you go down there in the winter because of how bad the weather is, even worse when there’s a storm. Rough is an understatement for how bad those waves can be, in 2015 the waves got to over 30 feet tall and swept right over the port and the sea wall, and completely flooded the road. Here’s a video of a similar storm in Portpatrick if you want to see how bad the weather can be: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYa2qnRqi9RjkMksi=ZuUYtnZesJUCnfWG

[@nickk6518]

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge-tunnel is 34 miles long so a Mull of Kintyre to Northern Island bridge would be a breeze. Even better, get the Dutch to construct a couple of dams between Scotland and Northern Ireland and then fill in the middle so there's dry land between the two countries. They could blow up Ben Nevis and use the rocks as infill. Or they could build a bridge over from the Lake District to the Isle of Man and then another from the Isle of Man to Ireland. I'm a genius. The name is Boris, by the way.

[@johnfletcher1036]

The other thing that was omitted was the replacement cost of the Irish rail system. The track gauge in Ireland is 5foot 3inches whilst UK and most of Europe is 4foot 8.5 inches.

[@MomMom4Cubs]

I was wondering about the differences in the rail wheel measurements betwixt Ireland and UK. Thanx for posting!

[@johnfletcher1036]

@@MomMom4Cubs Spain has 3 different rail gauges. Switzerland have a system in some areas where narrow gauge wagons are put on rails on top of standard gauge wagons. In Lyon there is a section of combined narrow and standard gauge tracks.

[@MomMom4Cubs]

@@johnfletcher1036 Interesting! Thanx for the reply! Here in the US, Amtrak runs on smaller wheels than most of the shippers like CSX or BASF. This is usually the reason for Amtrak derailing incidents, at least in my region of upstate NY.

[@Twittler1]

There is equipment available now that can re-gauge railway vehicles’ axles while they’re on the move at a reasonable speed, 30-40mph. But only vehicles with adjustable gauge would be able to use the link. That excludes anything in use at the moment in either country. A cheaper(?) way would be to lay an extra running rail between the existing rails in Ireland, and just outside them in GB. But; the gauge difference is possibly too small to leave room for another rail, as it would be very close to an existing rail in each country. Or perhaps new dual rails could replace an existing one. But for what distance, and where to?

[@TalesOfWar]

@@MomMom4Cubs Most derailments in the US are because of extremely poor rail maintenance or because the haulers don't give a shit about following speed signals because they need to meet their deadline. The freight also destroys the tracks Amtrak use which often bows them, and Amtrak run faster trains so it multiplies the issue.

[@jonroads8281]

Having been to the beautiful location of Portpatrick, I'm extremely glad to hear that it's unlikely that this beautiful location will be ruined by such construction.

[@01karmacop]

Imagine a free Scotland and free lrealand connected independent bridge would be a good name for the bridge haha .watching from Scotland peace and love to all

[@Parker_Douglas]

Last I checked I’m free .

[@01karmacop]

@@Parker_Douglas you must be brittish then

[@rapier1954]

@@Parker_Douglas When Brexit fully kicks in you will be wanting to get free of that debacle.

[@Parker_Douglas]

@@rapier1954 no what am seeing is hundreds of boats crossing the channel entering England illegally & the English rolling over allowing it . I’m starting to think if this is how it is now then I want independence before Scotland goes the same way. I didn’t fuckn sign up for this & it scared the hell out of me . These people who are already here are here for War ,

[@kalebrosenberg8294]

Seems more feasable to actually build the originally proposed HS2. Add a few high speed ferries from Liverpool to Dublin and you got your Ireland connection for a fracture of the cost with about the same travel time.

[@TineBeo]

Ireland is very happy being an island thank you very much.

[@darnellbiggumsthe9th658]

as an irishman from the north of ireland i can say with confidence if that bridge were to ever get built it’d 100% be a legitimate target for you know who lmao

[@rachelkelly7511]

the first thing i thought aswell 😂

[@SusanaXpeace2u]

Michael O'Leary!!? Joking. Sadly yes, from Dublin, I agree with you. The convenience to the people they supposedly represent wouldn't matter.

[@RobertK1993]

Not if it's built in a United Ireland.

[@rachelkelly7511]

@@RobertK1993 that brings its whole set of problems aswell

[@13minutestomidnight]

@@RobertK1993 Yeah, because united countries don't also have terrorists who are unhappy with something, whether it's the government or the people? Extremists are always the least logical and most violent people on earth, no matter what their ideology, after all.

[@tomg2217]

I have a slightly cheaper option: Take a boat from England to Ireland and vice versa. It's worked well so far, why fix what isn't broken?

[@profwaldone]

Throughput, a single train can deliver the same as a single large boat, but a boat takes an hour and requires loading and unloading, while the train does it in minutes without needing to even slow down. Then these projects get roads bolted on becouse governments love sucking big oils tailpipe.

[@FrozenDung]

Yeah that bridge is too expensive to work for us as cool as it would be. NZ would love one too for North and South Island but it's just too expensive as the Cook strait is very very stormy

[@duanesamuelson2256]

Time, ease of shipment, the cost of ports on both sides to handle the equivalent freight, the cost of the ships (which need periodically to be taken out of service to be serviced, and replaced) the ongoing expense for the manpower on both sides to handle the goods, and so on. A bridge with rail system and road for freight is rather rapidly cheaper over time. It's why bridges have been, and are built..cost benefits over time and volume of freight and people

[@stuartmacdonald9289]

You can also catch a ferry from Scotland to Ireland.

[@Hession0Drasha]

Capacity

[@timmurphy4844]

the most likely crossing will be wexford/wicklow to wales, thejourney time alone doesn't allow for it to ecommically viable up north. it would be a minium of 9 hours from dover to start point of the bridge. compared to a 9 hour journey from dover to Dublin bay ferry included.

[@bhgtree]

Never is a long time.... As a Irish person, I would love to see this happen, the advantages so much outway the cost and technical problems. Thanks Simon.

[@NedNew]

Erm, do they? I fail to see many advantages? As an Irish person I would have no interest in seeing this happen. It would be obsolete anyway.

[@brianlawlor4221]

Eh what? As an Irish person I disagree hugely. They only starved millions of us to death but hey don't worry about it eh, wtf.

[@GB-vn1tf]

As a bridge it would be incredibly tough to build, as a tunnel and bridge i would suggest that would be easier but still a monumental task, and the cost would be prohibitive. The chanel tunnel was relatively easy as the material they tunneled through was soft, not so under the Irish sea. A submerged concrete tunnel might be the solution but im not too sure if that would be possible.

[@marksapollo]

It'll cost 200 billion and be delivered 30 years behind schedule, yet make MANY friends of MPs very rich...

[@rodchallis8031]

And really, this is the primary purpose of infrastructure projects around the world. So there's that.

[@williammcguinness6664]

I'm surprised the evaluation has only cost 1m

[@ronald3836]

@@williammcguinness6664 yes, that was a job very well done.

[@andrewg.carvill4596]

The Channel Tunnel is effectively part of the straight line between Western Europe's two largest cities, London and Paris. Approximately 35 million people live within 3 hours drive of the tunnel, not to mention the 60 million British and 600 million EU trading blocs that the Channel Tunnel connects. A multiple-times-as-expensive Irish tunnel would connect the 6.5 million population of (both) Irelands to either Scotland or Wales. Add a 7 or 4 hours drive to this just to get as far as London, plus another 2 hours to get around London to the traffic jams at Dover. Since Brexit, all you can see in Dublin Bay (given fine weather) is shipping exiting the port and turning right for Cherbourg. Boris was just being Boris.

[@heffatheanimal2200]

I can just imagine the Irish looking across at England: "Nope! Dont connect us to that lot!"

[@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe]

To be Pedantic, the nearest part of the UK to Ireland is in North Wales. So it'd be the Welsh who they wouldn't want to be connected to, and of course, there's the short distance from Northern Ireland to Scotland. Just thought I'd point that out.

[@heffatheanimal2200]

@@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe lol yeah I know 😁

[@KevOSMusic]

Considering none of the proposals would technically directly connect us to the English...

[@colmcarrigg]

UK is English dominated though. Besides, better to have an arms length relationship, works better.

[@realitysosubtle2746]

@@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe to be pedantic - it's northern Ireland.

[@arnesahlen2704]

Floating bridges have worked well for smaller crossings. The city of Kelowna BC 🇨🇦 Canada had one that did fine service for decades - until vastly increased traffic made its replacement essential.

[@drudgenemo7030]

The Oresund is impressive, but the Chesapeake is longer and deeper, and probably closer to the Irish project

[@reubenparies6678]

But Chesapeake Bay is extremely calm relative to the Irish Sea...

[@drudgenemo7030]

@@reubenparies6678 you might want to look at a current weather map

[@AndoCommando1000]

And extremely shallow compared to the Irish Sea@@reubenparies6678

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

Have a tunnel between Fishguard and Rosslare and have dual gauge track in Ireland from Rosslare to Dublin.

[@cuddlepaws4423]

This makes the HS2 look like a small council project .

[@jetli740]

LOL HS2 part already cancel

[@TalesOfWar]

@@jetli740 Yep, because the Tories don't like projects that take people off the roads. The only reason they even did what they've done so far is because Labour put it into law in 2009. They've watered it down almost to the point of being useless, while the originally agreed and budgeted plan would have benefitted the whole of England, not just London.

[@jetli740]

@@TalesOfWar Hs2 have lots of politic behing it. originaly this hs2 contract to china to build it, take 5yrs and cost around 14B-15B. (yes cost low china build the Lao rail which is 414km cut though so many mountain still only cost 6B) regarding the huawei incident Usa claim it contain back door ect ect so they cancel the project with china. Uk retake it and we know how that went. another blunder wasted huge amount is the hinkley nuclear power... both waste so much tax money all just for politic you can find much more just srch : china UK HS2

[@jordanscherr6699]

We do actually have a floating bridge here in Washington, the 520. That said, Washington State also has The Sound. A labyrinthian buffer against the worst of Pacific storms and weather. It doesn't stop everything, and tides are as equal a concern here as with Ireland. But I could still imagine it working if reinforced. (A bit of a vain wish considering cost cutting, as we've seen time and time again.) And it's true, the 520 is connected directly to not one, but two highways. I.E. the infrastructure is there.

[@etherealbolweevil6268]

There is a bridge to the Isle of Sodor, but no bridge from there to the Isle of Man. So a small bridge Sodor-Man and a bigger bridge/tube/tunnel Man-Ireland would suffice. You just need to exist in the plane of unreality inhabited by Johnson.

[@robheusd]

For 'bridging' these large straits the building technique is not to built a bridge over the water nor a tunnel under the sea floor, but to built a buyant tube that floats in the water (40-50 m below sea level) and is firmly tied to the sea floor with cables. The design of that tube is a tube-in-a-tube design, between the inner and outer tubes buyoant material (like EPS) is used to keep it floating. The construction of such a floating tunnel can be done completely from land in 100m sections, and they are pushed through a digged trench on rollers into the water and then connected to the sea floor. First with temporal connections the tube can glide through and when finished with a permanent connection to the sea floor. Easier and cheaper to built then either a bridge or tunnel under the sea floor. Can be used in many places, but maybe not in waters where tsunami's occur.. If the water level is really shallow, instead of a buyoant tube one could use a tube built on an underwater bridge.

[@dinsdalemontypiranha4349]

A bridge too far?

[@andrewg.carvill4596]

Since Brexit, all you can see in Dublin Bay (given fine weather) is shipping exiting the port and turning right for Cherbourg. Boris was just being Boris.

[@jakemybigblackdog]

FYI…the government of the Republic of Ireland does not recognise Ireland being called geographically a part of the British Isles..

[@chaosbringer546]

The "British isles" has no real geographical basis, its an anachronistic political designation so ROI are actually correct

[@PatrickOReilly]

They don't recognise being prefixed with "the Republic of" either, just Ireland.

[@padraigrab08]

just a thcik british prick thinking ireland is still park of uk

[@raulpetrascu2696]

Still the most widely accepted term

[@ChrisOReilly]

No, we do, it's a geographic term, not a political one, would be like Canada saying "we're not part of America", they are, just not the US...

[@l.b8896]

“Man eating mop of hair formerly known as Boris Johnson” made cackle that was hilarious

[@claireway-6545]

A pontoon bridge across the Irish Sea - I'm never going near it😂😂😂😊

[@ironman8257]

yeah, id travel with windows down and life jacket on

[@thiswonderfullandpenwithco1151]

Great someone took the time to explain all this. The HS2 seems to be going the same way tbh .

[@atony1400]

Reminds me of the forever stalled Bridge to Sicily project.

[@kenoliver8913]

But the Messina Straits bridge is a far, far cheaper and easier project than this one. The difference is that it is only politics STOPPING that one where it was pure politics STARTING this one.

[@svenblubber5448]

@@kenoliver8913 And earthquakes! Politics and earthquakes!

[@ronald3836]

It reminds me of the Kerch bridge. Same political aim.

[@TalesOfWar]

@@svenblubber5448 We're pretty good at building bridges in seismically active areas these days. The engineering isn't the issue.

[@bioLarzen]

... not to mention that even if the bridge or tunnel would be built, there would be no guarantee Scotland would still be part of the UK by then...

[@ricardosmythe2548]

Scotland going independant is the dream of economically inept minds and will never happen.

[@greendragonreprised6885]

How about a cable car from Snowdonia to the Wicklow Mountains?

[@mitchdabeast_2103]

I’ve been to kintyre, a beautiful and scenic quiet place, also SO hard to get to, bad idea

[@SpaceDogGlobalEntertainment]

Portpatrick is pretty similar, not as much hard to get to but it’s a town of 600 people with infrastructure meant for that, the traffic a bridge would create would destroy the town, wouldn’t be as beautiful or peaceful with a giant bridge in the way, so it would wreck the town’s entire appeal. Not to mention the weather.

[@ZvonimirZelenika]

Though obvious solution isn't mentioned or obvious example compared - undersea rail tunnel on Galloway route would be comparable to Seikan tunnel (54km and 240m below surface, built 35 years ago). Irish Sea tunnel might be a bit longer and somewhat deeper but it wouldn't neither be longest nor deepest tunnel built (a bit northern routing would avoid the deepest part of Beaufort's Dyke). We can also all see how operations of Channel Tunnel work with high-speed, car/lorry shuttle and cargo trains so copying the same model here could be absolutely feasible (with some shuttle trains maybe operating Dumfries-to-Belfast route and some operating just the tunnel section). What is also comparable is that Hokkaido and Ireland (island) are very similar - 83.000-vs-84.000 square kilometres in surface with Ireland having bigger population (7-vs-5 million). In Hokkaido case, population centres are even further away on both sides then in case of Galloway route (with Belfast literally being on one of tunnel exits) and land between Dumfries and Stranraer is actually much easier to build the new railway line than it was to build high-speed line between (Shin-)Aomori and Seikan Tunnel. In general, it wouldn't be neither the deepest or longest tunnel built so far, so all technical challenges are solvable. What isn't solvable is that country that has given us railway and industrial revolution and has built Severn Tunnel in 1886 and Forth Bridge in 1890 is fully incapable of dreaming and building something at this scale today.

[@neilgwynne5158]

Completely agree. Civil engineer and I have been through the seikan tunnel. A tunnel under Beaufort dyke is feasible. Norwegian have be laying lots of really deep road tunnels It's not the engineering, it is finance and politics. Seeing as how the UK. Construction industry is stretched is this a priority...????

[@bk99911]

Only 23km of the 54km Seikan is actually under the sea. The rest of the tunnel is necessary to get to the depth to go under the sea. An Irish tunnel would end up being longer.

[@ZvonimirZelenika]

@@bk99911 Of course, it's underwater section would be comparable to Channel Tunnel (at nearly 40km), but my point is that Irish Sea tunnel would not be order of magnitude bigger project than anything but would be pretty comparable to what has been done (Seikan, Channel undersea tunnels and Gotthard, Cenis, Brenner in Alps). But it's interesting quirk that Ireland (island) and Hokkaido are actually pretty similar in size and population.

[@neilburns8869]

There was never going to be a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland. I stay in Dumfries & Galloway and I can tell you that they would need to make the A75 road that runs between Gretna and Stranraer dual carriageway all the way and that in itself would take at least 4 or 5 years, before anything is ever done in relation to a bridge. A tunnel would actually be a better idea in my own opinion but that's never really going to happen either.

[@abaddon1371]

It could probably be done, as a three part combined tunnel/bridge/tunnel. Instead of starting with a bridge, start with a tunnel that emerges at an artificial island and onto the bridge itself and at the end of the bridge, disappears into yet another artificial island with a tunnel. That way, you can shorten the actual bridge itself considerably and it would be cheaper to build it that way, since it is the bridge part that really pull numbers in such budgets. If we in Denmark, a very small country compared to the UK, can build not one, but two large bridge projects, involving train support, artificial islands in both projects, done on time (Øresund bridge was even early finished by two months) within budgets and fully supported by all partners involved, including the danish population. I wonder why the UK can't.

[@PanglossDr]

Do you know how deep the see is there?

[@dcanmore]

the North Channel is average 100m deep and the trench is 300m down from there. Your Denmark bridges sits above water that is only 10m deep.

[@abaddon1371]

@@dcanmore I am sorry to say, but Simon is wrong on his numbers. The danish Great belt is ~60m deep and Øresund is ~40m, not 10m as said in the video. A simple search could have shown him that. The deepest point of the tunnel at the Great Belt is ~75m. That is, a large trench was drenched, to place the tunnel elements into, and is thus deeper than the actual sea floor of the Great Belt. The same goes for the Øresund bridge, where the tunnel elements are placed at ~50m, and also deeper than the sea floor itself.

[@dcanmore]

the North Channel figures are 100m to 300m deep at sea floor, you cannot build artificial islands in that depth of water. Plus the trench has over one million tons of military ordnance in it that was dumped between 1945 and 1958 so makes a tunnel impossible.@@abaddon1371

[@alayneperrott9693]

The main problem for any sort of bridge is the really, really rough Irish Sea.

[@Poverty-Tier]

Nothing says Vanity Project like proposing to spend many billions of euros on something questionably useful while the NHS is in crisis, millions of Britons can’t afford rent & food, and I’m saying this as an American on the outside looking in. Britain as a country is in a shitload of trouble.

[@gkewley42]

NHS is communism.

[@Jinsun202]

"The British Isles" - seriously, man. This is not 1823.

[@patricklawson9756]

Half the time it would be closed due to bad weather and the other half because of bomb scares

[@ryananderson3721]

How about they just get more ferries and a bigger port and so bring the prices down too. I am travelling this xmas from Northern Ireland to Scotland and is costing me £450 return. that is rediculous. My mum and dad come over just 2 months ago and they were only £360 odd return! What i am saying is in my opinion more ferries at a cheaper price would benefit more and be a hell of a lot cheaper lol

[@atix50]

Here's one. There's plans to connect Ireland to France as the last phase of the European rail upgrades. 2040/2050 dates. Lots of YT videos with the European rail plans uploaded over the last year. The idea is that in 20 years, the technology will be so familiar and cost-effective that it won't be such a crazy idea. The plan is to reduce air travel across the union as part of the 'clean air blah blah' projects

[@paddyjoe1884]

One issue with that is that the railway gauge in Ireland is different from that in the UK or the rest of Europe, as Ireland (both north and south) never adopted standard gauge.

[@richiehoyt8487]

They're joking, surely?! I suppose they're investing in time travel as well, to expedite the project!

[@wojciechmuras553]

​@@paddyjoe1884Not much of a problem. Gauge changers exist, and high-speed lines generally need new right-of-ways anyway.

[@paddyjoe1884]

@@wojciechmuras553 but Ireland is broad gauge, it's like 150mm larger or sm ting, I don't think adaptors r going 2 help. Plus it's a fairly old network. Also lots of nimby's in Ireland so good luck getting new lines built!

[@davidjaeger1532]

Mr Whistler, isn't there a third way? As much as I enjoy your channel, I was watching the b1m, and they had a video about the Furman (?) crossing in Denmark. This is a 15 km underwater tunnel made of prefabricated concrete pieces that are sunk onto the seabed and connected together. I believe the cost was a little under 8 billion dollars. Which means that the 45 km stretch between Britain and Ireland could cost less than $40 billion dollars. Taking into account that the facilities to build these prefabricated pieces have already been constructed for the Danish tunnel, it's possible that it might be cheaper. Has anyone looked at this option for a route between Ireland and Britain? Great channel by the way.

[@ScottyDo3sntKnow]

The Irish Sea is notoriously one of the worst expanses of the ocean to travel/build! It is also insanely deep compared to the crossing you are talking about, the price simply wouldn’t scale as you imply it would

[@DubhghlasMacDubhghlas]

Irish Sea is deeper thus would cost more. More pressure as you go deeper.

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

The issue, as was noted in the video, is the difference in the depth of water. The Kattegat / Skagerrak is relatively shallow, in comparison with the Irish Sea ... and the sea states are possibly a bit better. The tunnel as proposed in the B1M video depends on a prepared sea-bed trench having been dug which, in the Irish Sea, might not be possible due to the geological layout of this stretch of water ...., in which case a driven tunnel would be better (but infinitely more expensive)

[@davidjaeger1532]

The video about the Danish tunnel said that they were going around 40 meters down. Most of the Irish sea is only 60-80 meters deep. Is there that much pressure difference? Couldn't it be overcome by strengthening the tunnel sections ? I'm just saying it should be looked at.

[@DubhghlasMacDubhghlas]

@@davidjaeger1532 it is more pressure thus the walls have to be thicker. 40 meters is about the deepest a scuba diver would go. But you don't think the pressure would be that much higher 40 more meters down. And where they were talking about it the deepest part of the sea that they would be going through is 160 meters deep in the north channel. And the shallowest part of Irish Sea is off Wales and ROI not NI at 80 meters but that involves whole another country that is not on board with the bridge.... and not anywhere people have proposed the bridge.

[@evanomairtin1279]

Ireland is not part of the British isles, that is a term used by some in the UK but is not an official term recognised by the Government of Ireland / Rialtas na hÉireann, Ireland isn’t, and never has been British, it has been Gaelic, the correct term to refer to the two islands is simply “Britain and Ireland”

[@martin-vv9lf]

they could build an offshore wind turbine every half mile across the sea, and use their foundations for small bridges between each turbine. that way the turbines pay for part of the cost of the overall bridge.

[@andrewlally605]

Yes, I also wondered about combining it with wind turbines

[@SMunro]

Need a causeway from Ireland to Scotland. Houseboat mooring along its 30km, and fishfarms on the other.

[@Adiscretefirm]

The coolest megaproject ever is going to be when they start dropping bombs to the bottom of that trench to detonate all the other bombs already down there

[@BrianHurry]

Omg we finally got a mega project on the mega project channel. I love it! (No airplanes thank God)

[@Maxamar90]

You never know we might actually be able to get most of the items off Amazon then instead of being restricted on lots of items for stupid reasons.

[@markhughes7927]

It’s actually quite possible to conceive and also rapid and inexpensive to construct (barring government project oversight) using the combination of two little used construction techniques known as the syncopated-cubeoctahedron (aka khatmatrix) and the isotropic vector matrix - could probably usefully add a bit of ‘non-dom’ geodesy as well!

[@wyldhowl2821]

200 or 300 billion pounds, you could build 200 1 billion pound ferries and run one every hour at every one of these crossing locations.

[@TalesOfWar]

That assumes it costs £1 to build an operate a ferry.

[@rossharper1983]

In my 20's I would have loved a bridge between Wales and Ireland. Perfect for hitting the Twisties on the weekend motorcycle rides. Sleeping bag and pop up tent, I would often disappear Friday after work and come home Sunday night exploring the UK, France , Spain on 2 wheels

[@douglasfrompa593]

Ya'll should get in touch with the fine fellows who created the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, it has been there as long as I can remember so it must be built pretty OK. On another level if one could convince The Department of Defense it was their idea in the first place and they will build it for you in a couple of months.

[@Hattonbank]

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is in a heavily populated wealthy part of the largest economy in the world. The Irish Sea bridge would connect two of the least densely populated and poorer areas at the extremities of the UK. Utterly an economic basket case compared to the CBBT

[@Twittler1]

Looking at the two terminal points for either type of crossing, they would be nowhere near the towns mentioned. There’s the not so small issue of the approach roads/rails at either end. These couldn’t just rise or descend just where the crossing starts. They’d have to start miles away! Rail vehicles couldn’t reliably manage more than a 1% (1 in 100) gradient; perhaps not even that, as too much speed may be lost over a long approach. Road vehicles could manage a stiffer gradient, but if it’s still too long, you’d end up with LGVs etc grinding along at walking pace in 1st gear! An example - there was a study to build a road and pedestrian bridge over the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour to link Gosport to Portsmouth; a tunnel is a big NO. Various groups, mostly in Gosport and beyond keep bringing it up. There is a passenger ferry, but no possibility of a vehicle one (insufficient space on each side). Takes 3-4 minutes. You can spit from one side to the other! For vehicles however, it’s a 16-17 mile circular route, which can (does!) take an age at peak times. 30 minutes at 3am on a Sunday if you’re really lucky! Anyway, the study found that the approaches to what would have to be a VERY high bridge (Naval vessels can be very tall) would have to start about 7-8 miles EAST of Gosport. It would culminate in an exceptionally tall viaduct hanging over the towns on the way, including Gosport and Portsmouth. Once the harbour entrance was cleared, the viaduct would begin its descent OVER Portsmouth, curving north, for about 8 miles, finally hitting ground level north of the Cosham area. The extra time required to get to and from both Portsmouth and Gosport from the approach ends would be more than the existing time needed! This Celtic Sea bridge would be at least as high if not higher. For the tunnel, at 100m depth minimum, you’d be looking at 10km/6-7 miles at each end for the approaches.

[@gospelgroupie]

Very interesting synopsis, Simon. There was also a proposal, I had thought had come out of Boris' head, of creating the "Douglas Junction", an underground roundabout beneath the Isle of Man, which would serve as a hub to link that island itself, to Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Lake District of England, and potentially Holyhead in north Wales. This route from Northern Ireland would have the benefit of skirting and avoiding the southern end of Beauforts' Dyke. Each spoke of this wheel, however, would be around 80km to Douglas. While I do conceed that it is yet another pipe-dream and not worthy of discussion in its own right, I think it would have noted mention in this video, even as an aside. Another consideration which is quite likely going to scupper any large infrastructural link between Northern Ireland and Scotland is the changing demography and voting patterns in NI. If there is ever a possibility that Republicans/Nationalists out-number the Unionists, a referendum will be triggered to cede from the UK and join the Republic of Ireland, although there's no guarantee that the Republic of Ireland will vote to take them in. If I were the London government, I'd be very slow to invest money in something that is going to be an asset to a neighbouring country, and possibly lead to a strengthening of republican ties between a United Ireland and a Scotland which is pondering independence. It could be the start of a Celtic Union.

[@TalesOfWar]

The irony there is that the lack of investment from London is exactly why Northern Ireland would want to join the Republic. Westminster doesn't give a crap about them, but then Westminster doesn't really give a crap about much outside the M25.

[@AngryAnt0]

Completely agree and sadly now that brexit is a thing (that potentially (?) was started by Johnson all those years ago with bendy banana's), the Irish/Welsh crossing could have possibly have been looked into as a joint project before it? Like you said, the so called government doesn't give a thought about anything after the M25, just look at HS2, now being cancelled at Birmingham when really the North of England (and South West) is in desperate need of travel links to other areas of the country. Going from Hull to anywhere is a nightmare, as is getting to & from Cornwall/Devon. As a proud [half] Scot who doesn't really want indi, I honestly think it will happen in the next 10 or so years and the idea that the government would build a bridge connecting two leaving parts of the union, pretty much scuppered any idea from the get go.

[@ewmlloyd]

I find it amusing that every shot of a bridge or tunnel has the traffic driving on the right, while all countries that would use the proposed bridge drive on the left.

[@TheMagicLemur]

If £20.5 billion is insane, then so is the fact that the UK government still owns £23 billion in RBS shares 15 years after the crash.

[@phitsf5475]

Pennies compared to other waste and corruption by the government

[@ITzzMike96]

Actually is 23 trillion lol 😂

[@braydons5623]

that's $33.8B in CAD, but honestly, still not bad considering the new Gordie Howe bridge between the US and Canada across the Detroit River is projected at $4.5B CAD

[@damfadd]

And all we get in Australia for 400B is a few subs from US and UK

[@willdarling1]

and £20 billion is also what has been spent on HS2 so far

[@Clyde-2055]

It’s already far too easy for the Brits to come to Ireland !!

[@natenae8635]

Lmao, y’all literally have an open border.

[@jamesroyle6888]

Have you any idea how many Irish live in britain 😂 Its not british people you want to be worried about...

[@velvetunderpants44]

@@jamesroyle6888 Did you ever wonder why there's so many Irish in the UK...?

[@verali164]

You would miss the irish if they left England, just like we would miss the english

[@Clyde-2055]

@@verali164 - Who is this “we” that would miss the English ??

[@Thegobstopper61]

The sht railway from Birmingham to a spurious London suburb is a massive white elephant. This bridge would be a herd of them .

[@end8316]

Build a proper port in Holyhead! When the ferry comes in from Ireland, the roundabout that enters Holyhead is always clogged for about 30mins - 60mins, not to mention the horrendous traffic later on the Britannia Bridge!!!! It was absolutely shocking when The Menai Bridge was closed last year.

[@Omegatonboom]

What we need is to extend the H3 on Oahu, Hawaii and make a bridge to Seattle or LA. Lol

[@dresca2501]

You have done your homework. Very detailed. Thank you ^^

[@Denise.b1234]

The Irish Government does not recognise the term British Isles, its considered offensive in the Republic of Ireland