<P> These hopes were dashed with the outbreak of World War I and the Russian Revolution . </P> <P> Interest was renewed during World War II with the completion in 1942 - 43 of the Alaska Highway linking the remote territory of Alaska with Canada and the continental United States . In 1942 the Foreign Policy Association envisioned the highway continuing to link with Nome near the Bering Strait, linked by motorway to the railhead at Irkutsk, using an alternative sea and air ferry service across the Bering Strait . </P> <P> In 1958 engineer T.Y. Lin suggested the construction of a bridge across the Bering Strait "to foster commerce and understanding between the people of the United States and the Soviet Union". Ten years later he organized the Inter-Continental Peace Bridge, Inc., a non-profit institution organized to further this proposal . At that time he made a feasibility study of a Bering Strait bridge and estimated the cost to be $1 billion for the 50 - mile (80 km) span . In 1994 he updated the cost to more than $4 billion . Like Gilpin, Lin envisioned the project as a symbol of international cooperation and unity, and dubbed the project the Intercontinental Peace Bridge . </P> <P> According to a report in the Beijing Times in May 2014, Chinese transportation experts are proposing building a roughly 10,000 kilometre (6,213 mi) - long high - speed rail line from Manchuria to the United States . The project would include a tunnel under the Bering Strait and connect to the contiguous United States via Canada . </P>

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