Mega-Projects. Good? Bad?

[ImperatorLJ]

...like a bridge over Gibraltar's strait?

I see you are someone who merely lacks the vision, ambition, excessive wealth, and endless waves of manpower to solve the problem!

But really -- if a nation is powerful and wealthy enough, I could see one attempting something as grand as the Gibraltar bridge.

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

I see you are someone who merely lacks the vision, ambition, excessive wealth, and endless waves of manpower to solve the problem!

But really -- if a nation is powerful and wealthy enough, I could see one attempting something as grand as the Gibraltar bridge.

Because it is not feasible even today?

 

[ImperatorLJ]

Because it is not feasible even today?

To my knowledge, it is physically possible to build the bridge -- just horrifically expensive and politically impossible.

If a player, in their playthrough, fixes the last two factors, then it should be possible to construct.

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

To my knowledge, it is physically possible to build the bridge -- just horrifically expensive and politically impossible.

If a player, in their playthrough, fixes the last two factors, then it should be possible to construct.

The cliffs are too steep.

 

[ImperatorLJ]

The cliffs are too steep.

*Let me state right away I am not any kind of engineer or expert on bridges haha.

I disagree about the cliffs. I've seen plans about possible suspension bridges spanning the strait, as well as building artificial islands that would act as support beams for the bridge. I don't know if these things were possible given the technology is the game's timespan (I would hope Paradox consults actual experts before putting the bridge in the game), but if it was possible to build, then a nation should have the ability to build it.

But I do agree with you that there are far more interesting, and more plausible, mega-projects out there! As other people have mentioned in this thread, there were so many other proposals and ideas throughout the world at this time that, to me, are more fascinating, and would bring more more attention to the that part of the globe. For example, @gustavotoniato had some great ideas for Brazil; it would be so cool to see those in game.

I'd trade the Gibraltar Bridge mega-project in a heart beat if it meant other, less well-known projects get attention.

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

*Let me state right away I am not any kind of engineer or expert on bridges haha.

I disagree about the cliffs. I've seen plans about possible suspension bridges spanning the strait, as well as building artificial islands that would act as support beams for the bridge. I don't know if these things were possible given the technology is the game's timespan (I would hope Paradox consults actual experts before putting the bridge in the game), but if it was possible to build, then a nation should have the ability to build it.

But I do agree with you that there are far more interesting, and more plausible, mega-projects out there! As other people have mentioned in this thread, there were so many other proposals and ideas throughout the world at this time that, to me, are more fascinating, and would bring more more attention to the that part of the globe. For example, @gustavotoniato had some great ideas for Brazil; it would be so cool to see those in game.

I'd trade the Gibraltar Bridge mega-project in a heart beat if it meant other, less well-known projects get attention.

No, a tunnel is the only solution. Using 2021 tech.

 

[wtrmute]

Regarding bridging the Strait of Gibraltar: there are two issues:

The first is that we have an active fault line running down the Strait, and any bridge or tunnel built there would in a few decades suffer some shifting of the bedrock about it in an earthquake which would probably break it into two; but we can ignore this problem in Victoria since we abstract away geology everywhere else on the globe.

The second is that we need to have such a long span in order to allow arbitrarily large vessels into the Mediterranean that we would not have strong enough materials in the 19th Century. I do not know whether we would have good enough materials in the 21st, though technology advances every day.

We always could ignore the problem and let the bridge be built without considering constrictive effects on shipping, but this is generally why building a bridge over or a tunnel under Gibraltar is a pipe dream.

Regarding megaprojects in general, there are only two effects which they could have: either they link markets together (through either railways or waterways) like the Transiberian, the Transcontinental, the Suez and the Panama canals, or they adjust the climate of a (set of) provinces, like the ancient dam of Ma'rib in Yemen, to increase its food production. Besides that, there is only fluff projects like the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower which should probably not even be called megaprojects.

I guess that with some more care, a "generic" megaproject solution could be architected, but I don't think that it would be a good idea for 1.0.