In a scenario where Cuba is part of the US, could a bridge be built between Cuba and Florida?

Pretty much as the tin says, in a scenario where Cuba is part of the United States and becomes a fully fledged American state, could/would a bridge be built between Cuba and Florida? The shortest distance between the two is apparently 90 miles and the longest bridge in the world is over 100 miles and located in China. However, this bridge appears to largely be over land from what I can see. The longest bridge over water is in Louisiana and is only about 30 miles or so. As a result, this bridge would be an enormous feat of engineering.
 
As you said, an enormous feat of engineering. I believe the best option is a tunnel, and definitely not a bridge or a causeway. But no doubt it would be accused of pork barrel spending.
 
As you said, an enormous feat of engineering. I believe the best option is a tunnel, and definitely not a bridge or a causeway. But no doubt it would be accused of pork barrel spending.

I just think a 90 mile underwater tunnel sounds more dangerous than a 90 mile bridge.
 
I just think a 90 mile underwater tunnel sounds more dangerous than a 90 mile bridge.

There's quite a few problems with a 90 mile bridge from Key West to Cuba, a couple of them is shipping (That area's fairly busy) and hurricanes. It'd be more economical to just have a ferry service or air transport.
 
As you said, an enormous feat of engineering. I believe the best option is a tunnel, and definitely not a bridge or a causeway. But no doubt it would be accused of pork barrel spending.

I just think a 90 mile underwater tunnel sounds more dangerous than a 90 mile bridge.

The Florida Strait is 6,000 feet deep. You can't build a tunnel through that.

A bridge, though, might be possible. The distance between Key West and Cuba is 93 miles. The width of the Taiwan Straits, conversely, is more than a hundred. A great deal of serious thought has gone into building a bridge there so maybe it could be done. You would need to build something that could stand up to the weather, though. This will go through hurricane territory. I'm not sure if that's a factor in Taiwan; if someone else here knows how that part of the world is affected during monsoon season that's helpful information.
 
Tunnels seem to have safer records. Especially in an area as prone to hurricanes as South Florida is.

It seems that you're bridging waters almost a mile deep in any case. In which case a bridge seems far too costly, and a causeway impluasible, so only a tunnel might work. There is a TL on here about a tunnel between Florida and Cuba which is certainly an architectural marvel, and that's probably your best bet.
 
There's quite a few problems with a 90 mile bridge from Key West to Cuba, a couple of them is shipping (That area's fairly busy) and hurricanes. It'd be more economical to just have a ferry service or air transport.

The Florida Strait is 6,000 feet deep. You can't build a tunnel through that.

A bridge, though, might be possible. The distance between Key West and Cuba is 93 miles. The width of the Taiwan Straits, conversely, is more than a hundred. A great deal of serious thought has gone into building a bridge there so maybe it could be done. You would need to build something that could stand up to the weather, though. This will go through hurricane territory. I'm not sure if that's a factor in Taiwan; if someone else here knows how that part of the world is affected during monsoon season that's helpful information.

As far as shipping goes, I think a solution would be to have a series of platforms built similar to oil rigs that are connected by a pontoon bridge in many areas? Pontoon portions could be disconnected and moved out of the way when a Hurricane is coming. And then have high enough portions of the bridge near Florida and Cuba such that ships can go under the bridge in those areas.
 
The Florida Strait is 6,000 feet deep. You can't build a tunnel through that.
Ahem. The trick is to put the tunnel through the water, not the seafloor.

I'm not sure if that's a factor in Taiwan; if someone else here knows how that part of the world is affected during monsoon season that's helpful information.
It certainly is; that region of China is routinely hit by typhoons (i.e., hurricanes). Of course, most hurricanes will have to cross Taiwan before they could hit a bridge, but there might be some that would hook around and hit a bridge full-on.
 
The question is, Do we take the Bahamas To?
Because it doesn't seem like it matters:
We take Cuba.PNG
 
As far as shipping goes, I think a solution would be to have a series of platforms built similar to oil rigs that are connected by a pontoon bridge in many areas? Pontoon portions could be disconnected and moved out of the way when a Hurricane is coming. And then have high enough portions of the bridge near Florida and Cuba such that ships can go under the bridge in those areas.

But why not just build a tunnel? You're still building platforms about a mile high in any case, so why not sink them to the bottom of the Caribbean? It would be traversable no matter the weather in any case (in theory).

If your Florida-Cuba route isn't open at all times, you might as well just go by ferries and other routes. There is no way you can have a bridge between Florida and Cuba without it being closed on many days due to severe weather (waterspouts, if not, yes, hurricanes and tropical storms). A tunnel can be open every day of the year, even if some Category 5 storm is hovering overhead.
 
Ahem. The trick is to put the tunnel through the water, not the seafloor.


It certainly is; that region of China is routinely hit by typhoons (i.e., hurricanes). Of course, most hurricanes will have to cross Taiwan before they could hit a bridge, but there might be some that would hook around and hit a bridge full-on.

But why not just build a tunnel? You're still building platforms about a mile high in any case, so why not sink them to the bottom of the Caribbean? It would be traversable no matter the weather in any case (in theory).

If your Florida-Cuba route isn't open at all times, you might as well just go by ferries and other routes. There is no way you can have a bridge between Florida and Cuba without it being closed on many days due to severe weather (waterspouts, if not, yes, hurricanes and tropical storms). A tunnel can be open every day of the year, even if some Category 5 storm is hovering overhead.

Well maybe the sinkable tunnel would work and then cars and trucks have to get on a train similar to the Chunnel? Avoids cars running out of gas in the middle of it.
 
Assuming that something like the submersible tunnel were constructed with a train that carries cars, trucks, and people back and forth between Cuba and Florida, what would that do for Cuba's economy? Would the existence of said submersible tunnel lead to submersible tunnels from Cuba to Hispaniola and Hispaniola to Puerto Rico? Imagine being able to take your car from the Canadian border to San Juan, Puerto Rico without getting on a boat.
 
Top