is the Chridge possible (or even desirable)?

[Alansmithee]

I don't want to get into the politics but how possible is BoJo's idea for a Channel Bridge (Chridge?)?

A realistic engineering project or too difficult to achieve?

[Phil Lee]

From a bridge engineering point of view (an area I’ve worked in for 25 years) it is technically possible but would be prohibitively expensive. I’m not sure of the depth of the Channel but you would need piers going to the sea bed which would be expensive and time consuming to construct. It would be a multi-span bridge so you would need a lot of piers which would be very expensive. You would probably have to do something like they did on the Øresund crossing and build an artificial island or maybe 2 due to the distance to be spanned. You would end up with a structure similar to this one in China.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13976281

Then comes the issue of shipping. A bridge over the channel would funnel down shipping to narrower areas which I would imagine would be a problem.

[mart broad]

IMO? more pie in the sky verbiage from rent a gob as has been said prohibitively expensive a huge impact on shipping lanes and were do you stack all the vehicles waiting to go through customs prior to crossing?

[hogthrob]

Boris Island mk II

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Britannia_Airport if you've forgotten.

[Wolfie]

IMO? more pie in the sky verbiage from rent a gob as has been said prohibitively expensive a huge impact on shipping lanes and were do you stack all the vehicles waiting to go through customs prior to crossing?

I now don’t have to write a post as you’ve just sammrised it all!

Thank you 🙏

[Onelasttime]

It needs a better name.

[chrisparker]

I’m not sure of the depth of the Channel but you would need piers going to the sea bed which would be expensive and time consuming to construct.

Given that we've built a tunnel, can estimate the likely timescales and costs. Know the challenges and have the solutions, another road tunnel would be a better. They're not closed in high wind, and don't narrow the shipping lanes.

By the time a road tunnel was built, we'll be driving zero emissions electric cars, so air pollution wouldn't be a concern, they could even incorporate a cycle track.

[mart broad]

Just an aside to this will there be some sort of crossover at 11 miles where the traffic goes from right to left or left to right or will there be an alternative weeks system?
Really you could not make this up and that idiot BJ really needs a lesson in what month we are in it’s not April yet:

[Der Amf]

If a politician deliberately says something nonsensical, to treat the nonsense with respect it doesn't deserve is to get into the politics.

If we permit ourselves to be distracted by unrealistic nonsense, then it's going to be hard to claim we deserve better.

[vagabond]

You're quite right DA. However when the politician in question is the Foreign Secretary, (rather than some backbenchers no one knows) should they be deliberately spouting nonsense?*

I'll leave it at that, in case we get too political for G&D.

[TheFlyingBanana]

Given that we've built a tunnel, can estimate the likely timescales and costs. Know the challenges and have the solutions, another road tunnel would be a better. They're not closed in high wind, and don't narrow the shipping lanes.

By the time a road tunnel was built, we'll be driving zero emissions electric cars, so air pollution wouldn't be a concern, they could even incorporate a cycle track.

As I recall, the Chunnel originally had a projected budget of £5billion. By the time it opened it had cost double that.

Quite how the estimate could be so far out is difficult to comprehend. They might just have well asked me to pick and imaginary number out of the air.

I don't have much faith in these kinds of massive vanity engineering projects being run effectively because the interface between Government/Public Sector and Private rarely works well. The Government is dominated by policies and the vagaries of political whim and ego, and the Private sector usually just looks upon them as opportunities to rape the public purse.

[chrisparker]

Forget the politics and let's get back on to what's possible/or not.

How about a giant Hot Wheels type ramp to launch cars over the Channel?

Or a giant floating assault course like on Total Wipe Out or Ninja Warrior, then only the super fit and agile could cross the channel?

[ernestrome]

How about a big catapult and a bigger net?

[JamesC]

It's one of the stupidest things I've heard him say I think, and he's said a lot of stupid things.


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[doctorj]

As I recall, the Chunnel originally had a projected budget of £5billion. By the time it opened it had cost double that.

Quite how the estimate could be so far out is difficult to comprehend. They might just have well asked me to pick and imaginary number out of the air.

I don't have much faith in these kinds of massive vanity engineering projects being run effectively because the interface between Government/Public Sector and Private rarely works well. The Government is dominated by policies and the vagaries of political whim and ego, and the Private sector usually just looks upon them as opportunities to rape the public purse.

Even accounting for the time difference, I don't understand how HS2 is budgeted for £42.5B.

[chrisb]

As I recall, the Chunnel originally had a projected budget of £5billion. By the time it opened it had cost double that.

Quite how the estimate could be so far out is difficult to comprehend. They might just have well asked me to pick and imaginary number out of the air.

I don't have much faith in these kinds of massive vanity engineering projects being run effectively because the interface between Government/Public Sector and Private rarely works well. The Government is dominated by policies and the vagaries of political whim and ego, and the Private sector usually just looks upon them as opportunities to rape the public purse.

Perhaps you should stick to subjects that you can comprehend then, and prevent yourself from looking foolish. The Chunnel was privately financed.
Any project that is below ground will be unbelievably difficult to accurately cost, as you will never know what the ground conditions will be until you actually encounter them.

M. Macron seems happy about the idea but he would as Vinci , a French company, seem to be the only European company with the clout to build it, however Sir William Halcrow are qualified to design it.

[aldfort]

Perhaps you should stick to subjects that you can comprehend then, and prevent yourself from looking foolish. The Chunnel was privately financed.
Any project that is below ground will be unbelievably difficult to accurately cost, as you will never know what the ground conditions will be until you actually encounter them.

Do you mean things like the great spring? Or are you saying that engineers have no idea at all until they start digging?

[chrisb]

Do you mean things like the great spring? Or are you saying that engineers have no idea at all until they start digging?

They will have a fair idea from available info from Ground Investigation surveys, but how many boreholes can you bore on the route across the channel? There will be no guarantee that all variations in the geology will be identified, even on a land based project, major problems are missed in the investigation stage, multiply by a 1000 for Channel works.

[BillyCasper]

Out of interest what’s the longest unsupported span amongst the world’s mega bridges?

How do ships navigate the Chesapeake, Changxing and Copenhagen bridges? Do they have to queue to be piloted through?


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[catch21]

Even accounting for the time difference, I don't understand how HS2 is budgeted for £42.5B.

Carillion.

[Captain Morgan]

To quell the question of how to manage the cross over from rh to lh driving perhaps we could have a garden at the halfway point where drivers could stop, refresh and then continue on the correct side of the road?

http://littleatoms.com/society/londo...annot-go-ahead

[hogthrob]

Unless the toll charge was prohibitive, wouldn't this render the tunnel and ferry services obsolete overnight?

[reggie747]

Chridge ? You just made that up ? It's as bad as Brexit !
Oh, and Boris is a bell end and he talks balls.
Of course anything's possible - the Yanks would probably knock that up overnight.

[chrisb]

Even accounting for the time difference, I don't understand how HS2 is budgeted for £42.5B.

Well, let's see...
Channel = 20+ miles mainly under the sea.


HS2= 200+ miles, every inch over some of the most expensive land in the world with all of the owners wanting top dollar. Hundreds of bridges and road diversions, and a few tunnels as well.
Does that help?

[TheFlyingBanana]

Perhaps you should stick to subjects that you can comprehend then, and prevent yourself from looking foolish. The Chunnel was privately financed.

You might want to take a slightly broader view before you get all shirty...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4...nnel-risk.html

The Chunnel also has a long history of asking for public funding support. Another case of privatising profits while expecting losses to be underwritten by the taxpayer.

[chrisb]

You might want to take a slightly broader view before you get all shirty...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4...nnel-risk.html

The Chunnel also has a long history of asking for public funding support. Another case of privatising profits while expecting losses to be underwritten by the taxpayer.

Do you think that the UK has benefitted from the tunnel at all?
Maybe they should just close it , as it's such a white elephant.
I did note that the reporter didn't make much of the fact that SNCF is the French Government owned railway.

[markrlondon]

As I recall, before the tunnel was selected as the Channel crossing solution, a number of possible schemes were considered such as conventional bridges of various types, part bridge/part pier, and even floating bridges. They were all rejected as being more costly, more complex and less likely to succeed as a tunnel.

There seems to be no need to go back to these other wouldbe solutions now.

If the capacity of all the ferries and the tunnel are really inadequate then it would make more sense to expand the ferry services first and then, if really necessary, build a second tunnel. But, since the existing tunnel seems incapable of breaking even, the cost effectiveness of a new tunnel (and thus especially a bridge as well) seems implausible.

[markrlondon]

Do you think that the UK has benefitted from the tunnel at all?

There may well be a net benefit to the UK but the principle of privatising profits whilst nationalising losses is unacceptable. It really has to be one way or another: Both profits and losses must accrue to the same entity, whereas at present the taxpayer is directly paying private entities and their shareholders to run a loss-making enterprise. That's not free enterprise: It's actually a form of economic fascism.

[thieuster]

When you pay for it, we, the Dutch, can build it. At least it will be a good boost for our economy

The 6th biggest storm ever over here and hey presto, there's a plan for added coastal safety. Fair chance it will be done in 15 -25 yrs from now.




Given the nasty weather near the Channel and the long, straight shape of the bridge, I would suggest naming it Dire Straights(...)

[KavKav]

Yes, build half the bloody thing. Start from Calais and end it with a roundabout after 10 miles.

[Saint-Just]

Yes, build half the bloody thing. Start from Calais and end it with a roundabout after 10 miles.

They would put a toll on it and it would be just like going to the zoo, watching the non EU islanders