# Would you drive from London to New York? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948 "2015-03-25T16:39:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/41 "2015-03-26T14:29:40Z")
Food, lodging, and gas prices would be likely to be crazy high in areas that were uninhabited or very sparsely inhabited before the road was built. Everything would have to be brought in from far away, including the workers. AIUI, oil companies convince people to work in places far from civilization by paying them higher wages. The traveler accommodations in remote locations along these roads would probably have to do something similar- people aren’t exactly clamoring to live in Siberia. There will probably not be much competition for the hotels, restaurants, shops, and gas stations in the middle of nowhere. All that is likely to mean high prices. It’s worse if it’s a bridge (or tunnel) crossing an ocean, because there is limited space for any competition. At least in Siberia, there _is_ land that you could use to start a competing business, if you could get the employees and supply chain you need to make it work. A bridge or tunnel crossing the Atlantic, no matter what route it takes, is going to have to deal somehow with the [Mid-Atlantic Ridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_Ridge). That means the possibility of earthquakes or volcanoes, as well as the road needing to get about 2.5 cm longer each year- not much, but it adds up. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is also, well, in the middle of the Atlantic. That’s going to complicate things when the bridge or tunnel needs repairs due to spreading, volcanoes, or earthquakes- they’re probably not all going to happen in a nice convenient place close to shore. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/42 "2015-03-26T14:30:13Z")
I did a round trip drive from southern CA to northern WA this past summer; we went through Nevada, Utah, Idaho, parts of Montana, & (on the return trip) Oregon. Each leg of the trip was ~30 hours of driving time, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more miserable. When I wasn’t driving, I was sleeping, and when I was sleeping, my entire body was sore as Hell from sitting in the cramped-ass car for so long. Not fun or adventurous AT ALL. Yeah, I think I’ll pass on the epic New York to London fantasy bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/43 "2015-03-26T15:54:23Z")
> [@XT](#): > > It’s only 80 miles from Alaska to the east coast of Russia, so wouldn’t think it would be THAT bad. I’ve been stuck on the Bay Bridge for longer than it will end up taking to drive that distance, assuming they could actually bridge it. It’s the steppes I’d think that some folks would find boring, but I think it would be a cool trip. I was talking about the London to New York trip ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/44 "2015-03-26T16:04:30Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I was talking about the London to New York trip So was I. 😉 The trip proposed in the OP would have you staring in London, taking the Chunnel (presumably), traversing Europe and Russia, taking the unicorn bridge to Alaska, then driving across Canada and the US to New York. Others in the thread are talking about another more fanciful bridge directly from the US to the UK via the Atlantic, but that’s even less likely than this Russian plan. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/45 "2015-03-26T16:12:34Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Pretty much this is how I feel. It would be an adventure, and I love driving. But do you love driving in Russia? 😃 [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/itMdLTd1l4E/hqdefault.jpg "RUSSIAN DRIVING CAMERAS Quite possibly THE BEST VIDEO OF 2012!!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itMdLTd1l4E) ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/46 "2015-03-26T16:19:28Z")
[quote=“Malthus, post:45, topic:715948”] But do you love driving in Russia? 😃 [/QUOTE] In Russia, driving love YOU! (Yeah, I’ve seen stuff like that before. Ever driven in Italy or India? It’s an experience. I’d be more worried about a lack of infrastructure and support systems for something like this, as I have serious doubts that even if the Russians made this they could really support a lot of tourists taking this route) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/47 "2015-03-26T16:23:08Z")
A thread like this has to mention the 1908-1909 road race 'round the world. They were supposed to cross the Bering Strait on sea ice, but got re-routed by ship to Japan. > **[1908 New York to Paris Race](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1908_New_York_to_Paris_Race)** > > The 1908 New York to Paris Race was an automobile competition consisting of drivers attempting to travel from New York to Paris. This was a considerable challenge given the state of automobile technology and road infrastructure at the time. Only three of six contestants completed the course. The winner was the American team, driving a 1907 Thomas Flyer. > In 1907 the Peking to Paris automobile race had inspired an even bolder test of these new machines. The following year the course would be from ... ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/48 "2015-03-26T16:29:20Z")
> [@XT](#): > > In Russia, driving love YOU! > > (Yeah, I’ve seen stuff like that before. Ever driven in Italy or India? It’s an experience. I’d be more worried about a lack of infrastructure and support systems for something like this, as I have serious doubts that even if the Russians made this they could really support a lot of tourists taking this route) Never driven in India or Italy - the worst driving I ever did was in rural Mexico. The worst parts - unmarked and random speed-bumps on the roads; hair-raising mountain roads with no shoulder; drivers for whom rules are mere suggestions; vehicles seemingly held together by Catholic prayers and chewing-gum. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/49 "2015-03-26T16:33:18Z")
The nearest highway to the Bering Strait on the Russian side is the [Kolyma Highway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R504_Kolyma_Highway), around 1200 miles away. It was built by gulag labor in the Stalinist era. Parts of it are a gravel road, rather than a paved road. The Russians want to extend this road to [Anadyr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anadyr_(town)) on the Pacific coast. They estimate this will take 30 years (they started in 2011). Anadyr is not on the Bering Strait, presumably further road construction to get to the Bering Strait would be needed. I wouldn’t expect to be driving over a Bering Strait bridge and through Russia anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/50 "2015-03-26T16:36:36Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > … > Are all cars that are street legal in the US also street legal in the UK and vice versa? What about the US and Russia? I don’t know how car insurance would work between the different countries. I know you need to get Mexican car insurance if you drive into Mexico (or at least you did a few years ago). Good point. Various EU treaties, I believe, make driving around most of Europe pretty painless from a legal perspective. You might face some practical problems driving around Austria if you only speak Portuguese and a little Spanish, but by golly your Portuguese driver’s license, tags, and insurance should all be ok for the trip. People in the US generally only drive internationally to Canada and Mexico, so that’s only two countries to deal with, and Canada’s rules are close enough to ours that there isn’t much of a practical problem. If anything, you might just need to buy a slightly beefier insurance package. How could you design a trans-oceanic highway to minimize the number of borders that would need to be crossed? E.g. for a trans-Atlantic route, you could figure Canada-\>Greenland-\>Iceland-\>UK. Going the other way, you could try an Alaska-\>Russia-Finland route, which dumps you straight into the Schengen area. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/51 "2015-03-26T16:37:40Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > A bridge between Siberia & Alaska would be cool, but I can’t imagine driving all the way across Russia. That’s a long ass boring drive. Seriously. I imagine it would be like driving across Pennsylvania, just ten times as long. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/52 "2015-03-26T16:39:16Z")
If I had the time and the money, sure. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/53 "2015-03-26T16:58:04Z")
> [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](#): > > Why wait? The Bering Strait freezes over in the winter. You can already\* drive from New York to Fairbanks, through the tundra for hundreds of miles, over the frozen Bering Strait, through Siberia, Russia, Europe, and then through the Chunnel service tunnel to reach London (I consider the Eurotunnel cheating). In fact, if you’re really ambitious, you could start in Tierra Del Fuego and drive north, and you’d only have to navigate the Darién Gap. > > \*No one has ever done this before, and the Bering Strait has only been successfully crossed twice, and even then by foot. But it’s not definitively impossible. [The Russian border patrol might have something to say about this](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/world/europe/team-returns-to-alaska-after-4-day-detention-in-russia.html?_r=0), if someone did manage to do it. The coast on the Bering Strait on the Russian side is a closed military zone. Having a visa to enter Russia in general might not be sufficient for coming in via the Bering Strait- they have detained and expelled people who had visas. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/54 "2015-03-26T17:09:52Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > A bridge or tunnel crossing the Atlantic, no matter what route it takes, is going to have to deal somehow with the [Mid-Atlantic Ridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_Ridge). That means the possibility of earthquakes or volcanoes, as well as the road needing to get about 2.5 cm longer each year- not much, but it adds up. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is also, well, in the middle of the Atlantic. That’s going to complicate things when the bridge or tunnel needs repairs due to spreading, volcanoes, or earthquakes- they’re probably not all going to happen in a nice convenient place close to shore. Because, Alaska and Siberia are not at all geologically active? If you were to leg the Atlantic bridge, it would be about 230 miles from Baffin Island to western Greenland, 190 miles from eastern Greenland to Iceland, 270 from Iceland to the Faroes and 200 from the Faroes to the Outer Hebrides (the Shetlands are slightly closer, but then you have to build another leg. Of course, you would then have to build routes to the bridge endpoints – crossing 700 miles of Greenland would be no mean feat – but at least the mid-Atlantic ridge runs _through_ Iceland, so the bridge would be unaffected by that. Still, if you can build a usable 270-mile-long bridge, you might as well go whole-hog and build a single practical span 5 times as long. Floating, of course, so that tectonic spread would not affect it much. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/55 "2015-03-26T17:18:20Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Because, Alaska and Siberia are not at all geologically active? [Alaska isn’t geologically active?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake)[Siberia isn’t geologically active?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamchatka_earthquakes) Really? OK, the area immediately surrounding the Bering Strait might not be, but there are quite geologically active areas in Alaska and on the Pacific coast of Siberia. In Iceland, [you might have to deal with volcanic activity with little or no warning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldfell). You might also have to deal with [floods produced by volcanic activity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6kulhlaup). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/56 "2015-03-26T17:25:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Seriously. I imagine it would be like driving across Pennsylvania, just ten times as long. Pennsylvania at least has trees & forests & things. A lot of Siberia is just miles & miles of flat tundra. Not a lot of adventure to be had. Building on permafrost is problematic too. When I traveled a bit around Siberia, I’d frequently see collapsed buildings. They were built on what they call “lenses.” Those are underground ice pockets that melt after you drive supports into them. With climate change, I imagine building will be even more problematic. The roads would require all kinds of constant maintenance. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/57 "2015-03-26T17:41:31Z")
> [@XT](#): > > So was I. 😉 The trip proposed in the OP would have you staring in London, taking the Chunnel (presumably), traversing Europe and Russia, taking the unicorn bridge to Alaska, then driving across Canada and the US to New York. Others in the thread are talking about another more fanciful bridge directly from the US to the UK via the Atlantic, but that’s even less likely than this Russian plan. Oh…ohhhhhhh Well then nevermind ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/58 "2015-03-26T18:01:07Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Pennsylvania at least has trees & forests & things. A lot of Siberia is just miles & miles of flat tundra. Not a lot of adventure to be had. Building on permafrost is problematic too. When I traveled a bit around Siberia, I’d frequently see collapsed buildings. They were built on what they call “lenses.” Those are underground ice pockets that melt after you drive supports into them. With climate change, I imagine building will be even more problematic. The roads would require all kinds of constant maintenance. I think the construction season is a bit longer here in Pennsylvania than it is in many parts of Siberia, too. I don’t think you can really build or maintain roads in Siberia in the winter. They don’t do much non-emergency work on the roads around here in the winter, and from what I’ve heard Siberian winters are worse. There is also a denser population in Pennsylvania. That’s going to make it much easier to get construction workers and workers in restaurants, hotels, and the like. Pennsylvania has an area of 46,000 square miles, and a population of 12.7 million. Siberia has an area of 5.1 million square miles and a population of 25.6 million. They’ve got more than 100 times the area but only twice the population of Pennsylvania. When Stalin wanted to build roads in Siberia, he solved that problem by sending people to gulags and forcing them to work on construction projects in Siberia. I don’t think they do that any more in Russia, if they do it’s certainly not on the kind of scale that Stalin did. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/59 "2015-03-26T18:05:40Z")
No. If I were flying to London tomorrow, I would dread the 2-hour drive to the nearest airport. No way I’m driving hours and hours and hours and hours, with nothing to look at but the North Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948/60 "2015-03-26T20:46:09Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I don’t think you can really build or maintain roads in Siberia in the winter. Winter makes it possible to build winter roads, for once the water is frozen, you don’t have to worry about muskeg, wetlands, bodies of water and rivers that limit where roads can be built. [Presently, winter roads connect the Bering Sea to the rest of Russia.](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/siberia-s-ice-road-truckers-it-s-like-a-way-of-life-says-writer-1.2515737) If you want to try travelling on a winter road, come visit northern Ontario, Canada, where we have [nearly a couple of thousand miles of winter roads](http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/sites/default/files/en_-_northern_ontario_winter_roads_map_2014.pdf) connecting [remote communities](http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/sites/default/files/community_contact_information_en.pdf) that otherwise have no land connection to the rest of the world Be sure to use a durable truck, be self-contained for winter survival at -40, carry a [SPOT](http://international.findmespot.com/) and have a rescue plan, go slowly to avoid a bow wave under the ice, check to see if driving over lakes and rivers voids your insurance, and get permission from the communities that you intend to visit (although folks seldom make such requests, it is a respectful thing to do, for you will be entering into their reservations where they have the right to decide who can or cannot visit). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-drive-from-london-to-new-york/715948.md?page=4)