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'Ice Highway' To Open Earth's Last Frontier

Posted by timothy on from the antarctica-for-the-antarcticans-I-say dept.

JayBonci writes "CNN is carrying a story on an Ice Highway to make it easier to access the South Pole. The 1,020 mile "highway" may be completed as soon as 2006. Because of the nature of the ever-shifting ice, maintenance is going to be difficult to say the least, but it will provide greater access to the region for supplies and scientists."

13 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Now all they need is a sign... by zuikaku · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Last gas 1,020 miles!"

    1. Re:Now all they need is a sign... by MBCook · · Score: 2, Funny
      Yeah, that may be true, but at least we all know there will be at least 20 McDonald's along a stretch that long.

      All you need is a car that can run on french fries and your set!

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  2. Next Headline in Yahoo by georgewad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Tourists Put Antarctic Ecosystem in Peril
    How appropriate.

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  3. As the road shifts. by ForestGrump · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Because the road is a definate scar across the surface of the ice, it would make it much easier to track movements and discontinuties in the ice; which would otherwise be unseen by the naked eye.

    -Grump

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  4. The question is... by Dr.+GeneMachine · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... who wants to go there? Looks worse than Nebraska...

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  5. how usable will this be? by fireduck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    the idea, presumably, is to truck supplies overland in antarctica, rather than flying them in with cargo planes. how practical is that? truck needs gas to travel 2000+ miles and then you've got this "stretching road" problem to deal with ("From one summer to the next the crevasse field moved about 1,000 feet north and grew about 100 feet longer."). So, your road needs to be replowed every year to account for the fact that it's now 100 feet away from where you left it?

    1. Re:how usable will this be? by FlyingOrca · · Score: 2, Informative

      Trucking is a lot cheaper than flying, considered on the basis of cost per kilo moved. That's why everything is expensive in the Arctic. Further south (by Arctic standards), parts of northern Manitoba are served by "winter roads" kind of like this. Once everything freezes up, it's a good way to move things.

      Interestingly, global warming is one possible culprit contributing to a recent problem: the weather "window" for winter roads is becoming more narrow. Bummer for the folks who live in places without alternatives besides air. At least in the Arctic, most places are accessible by sea-lift in the summer. Cheers!

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  6. Errrm. Antarctica last frontier of Earth? by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't know, we haven't terraformed the seabed very much. I thought deep water was the real last frontier of earth.

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  7. It's already Trashed by jazman_777 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read a book called "Mind Over Matter" about a couple of guys who crossed Antarctica on foot (a good read, BTW). It's not a walk--they started out with 450-lb sledges they could barely move. When they got to the South Pole, the author commented on how dirty and trashy it looked there. Scientists, tourists (making a quick hop down to the Pole, I reckon).

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  8. Hm... by Coppit · · Score: 3, Funny

    Anyone else have the mental image of sliding down miles of ice in a toboggan?

  9. The best thing about this road by Texas+Rose+on+Lava+L · · Score: 2, Funny

    There's absolutely nothing in Antarctica for the cops to hide behind.

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  10. Dupe by 1u3hr · · Score: 2, Informative
    South Pole to Get Highway
    Posted by michael on Friday January 24, @10:21PM
    from the south-pole-highway-patrol-now-hiring dept.
    tetrad writes "The New Scientist magazine reports that the US is building a road to the South Pole. The "highway" would cross the Ross Ice Shelf and then pass through the Transantarctic Mountains (map here). Convoys of tractors will be the only traffic on the road, bringing fuel and heavy equipment to the South Pole, as well as enabling the installation of a $250M fibre-optic communications cable (discussed previously)."

    If this TV show adds anything to the story above (which I rather doubt), apologies.

  11. A question by g0bshiTe · · Score: 2, Funny

    Exactly who will pave the way so to speak for this highway? Who gets the bill, and who maintains it? Emporer Penguins?

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