In 1914, this engineering feat linked the Atlantic and Pacific. A one-day trip through its locks chopped 7,872 miles off a trip around Cape Horn when traveling between New York and San Francisco. Today, the shortcut saves 10 days’ sailing.
Chinese Competition?
In 2013, a Chinese company made a deal with Nicaragua to build a rival to the Panama Canal. The proposed canal would cut the distance between New York and San Francisco by an additional 500 miles. The Nicaraguan Canal could accommodate supertankers and massive container ships too large for the Panama Canal.
A Strait Shot
Not all shortcuts are man-made. First navigated by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, the 350-mile-long Strait of Magellan lies between the tip of South America and Tierra del Fuego Island. It links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Though hard to navigate, this channel was an important route before the Panama Canal opened in 1914.
A New Route?
Melting ice has created the Northwest Passage, a new route through Canada’s Arctic waters. The first bulk carrier passed through the passage in September 2013. The Arctic route is shorter and deeper, allowing ships to save time and carry more cargo than the Panama route.
The Western Hemisphere’s Longest Shortcut
The Mackinac Bridge was built in 1957 to connect Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. Spanning five miles, the “Mighty Mac” is the longest suspension bridge with two towers between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The bridge can sway as much as 35 feet in high winds.
The Shortcut That Almost Was
George Ketchum began building the Chignecto Ship Railway in 1888. The plan called for locomotives to pull boats across the 17-mile-wide isthmus of Nova Scotia on a railroad track in just two hours. But when the railway was three-quarters finished, financial failures halted construction. The railway was never completed.
Tunneling Through
Completed in 1965, the Mont Blanc tunnel through the Alps links Chamonix, France, with Courmayeur, Italy. The tunnel saves drivers at least 30 miles’ travel between the two countries. It took over 700 tons of explosives to break up nearly 20 million cubic feet of rock in order to build the tunnel.
