The obstacles are huge. The costs would be enormous. Maintenance and insurance through the roof. We have no official relations with Cuba for the most part. If the US recognized Cuba and an atmosphere fostering trade and socialization developed, the means of transportation would be immediate and pretty cheap. Boats, helicopters and planes would be beating a path back and forth. Maybe you could make the trip for $25 or less. Many would provide free transportation.
If we actually did have something substantial going with Cuba and this trade flow were in progress, the engineering ideas would begin to develop. Who knows what might come along?
I dunno about that. Washington State has the three longest floating bridges in the world and haven’t had particularly good luck with them. The Hood Canal bridge sank in 1979, the Lacey Murrow (I-90) bridge in 1990 and they’ve admitted that it’s only luck that the Evergreen Point bridge didn’t sink before the current refit project. The longest of these bridges is only 7500 feet long and they’re all across relatively tame inland waterways. You think the concept would work better across 90 miles of open ocean in hurricane country?
I’ve seen film of my…[counts on fingers]…first FIL as a kid on a boat on the way to vacation in Cuba. 1930’s, I guess.
He ate a lot of green bananas hanging on the boat and was violently ill.
Just as with a Bearing Strait / Diomede islands bridge, approaches are a concern too. The Cuban side is pretty easy, having a major road all along the north shore, but Florida is an issue. 90 miles is from Key West, itself already at the end of a long overseas highway resplendent with traffic lights, businesses and at-grade intersections. Additional traffic over US-1 would be a major difficulty. going the other route, hooking up such a bridge directly to Key Largo or Ft. Meyers ain’t too practical.
This. I can’t ever see it being cost effective. You could have a gozillion ferry and plane rides back and forth and not even touch the cost of construction, even if it were possible.
Of course, if all the casinos and nightclubs in Havana get repatriated to their original owners, perhaps they can “negotiate” some favorable contracts to keep costs down.
