Ripple Rock (former sea rock near Vancouver in Canada)

[Anthony Appleyard]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_Rock

OTL: Ripple Rock is blown up in 1958.

ATL: A bridge is made from Vancouver Island to the mainland, using Ripple Rock as a mid-support. (There was OTL talk about doing this.) Ripple Rock is not destroyed.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Would a bridge represent the same navigation/damage hazard the rock alone was?

 

[PoorBoy]

Though a hazard would certainly still exist, a bridge would actually lessen it, since ships can actually see the hazard that way.

But the flip side to having a bridge is imposing a height limit on the ships passing underneath it. Without foresight, a bridge high enough in 1960 would be too low in 2010.

 

[Zheng He]

So what is the effect on the cruise industry? Will today's big cruise ships be able to clear the bridge?

They can barely clear the First Island Bridge now when leaving Vancouver and if they are unable to clear a bridge between the mainland and the island then cruise ships cannot go up to Alaska through the inlet passage, instead they would have to go out the Strait of Juan De Fuca and go around Vancouver Island which is a rougher ride.

 

[Anthony Appleyard]

Google Earth view

A bridge at Ripple Rock would merely connect Vancouver Island with Quadra Island. More bridges would then be needed to reach the mainland.

Given the tidal currents there, would it have been practicable to put men down to build the tops of Ripple Rock (if not blown up) up to well clear of sea level as the first stage of putting a bridge support on each of its 2 peaks?

Are there any artists' ideas as to what the strait there would have looked like with the sea level lower and the strait dry like in the end of the Ice Age?

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Google Earth view

A bridge at Ripple Rock would merely connect Vancouver Island with Quadra Island. More bridges would then be needed to reach the mainland.

Given the tidal currents there, would it have been practicable to put men down to build the tops of Ripple Rock f(if not blown up) up to well clear of sea level as the first stage of putting a bridge support on each of its 2 peaks?

Are there any artists' ideas as to what the strait there would have looked like with the sea level lower and the strait dry like in the end of the Ice Age?

In addition to which, such a hypothetical connexion would be way north of where anyone would want to cross. It would be very expensive, and ferries from Victoria to Vancouver might be faster than driving north, across various bridges and islands and then south again.