Americans will literally do anything except build trains
4 kms across the ocean: 
now that we have this river across the whole country, we can finally introduce swimming cars!
Well, the Panama Canal is exactly that, built mostly that way.
Panama Canal is the biggest NIMBY project ever
Because it was built at the thinnest part of the content and used existing lakes?
Pretty sure Omaha would have loved an East\West canal across the continent.
It connected several lakes in the narrowest part of the continent. Not ‘exactly that’ at all
If they could do it in ancient Greece then Americans can do it today for sure!
Stolen from !topview@lemmy.world
Also: although planned over 2000 years ago, it wasn't really made by ancient Greeks. They gave up and made a road to transport ships on it instead of actually digging. Only in modern time did they actually finish the canal
Wait... They had a movable pool that they rode the ships into and then horses dragged to the other waterway? That sounds awesome
They more or less put wheels on ships or rather loaded them on trailers and simply dragged them over land. Funny thing is that Thucydides (460 BC–395 BC) wrote about this, and described it as an ancient practice!
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/09/diolkos-ancient-trackway-that-carried.html?m=1
I love the 1950s, the solution to any problem was just "idk, have you tried nuking it?"
"I get my kicks... on Canal 66."
You might need to account for an extra day or two to dig down low enough in the rocky mountains. Unless you're working with a friend and they brought their own shovel.
Just get some pickaxes and dig a tunnel
This would also allow for a super cool water park. I'm all for it.
My first thought was if this was remotely possible on this scale, how many things would be disrupted and changed from the water movement alone. The Panama canal has to have locks because of the ocean differences, but no way would you have locks spanning a few hundred miles across. This thing would have tides back and forth.
Panama canal has to have locks because of the ocean differences
It's actually mostly due to the landscape of Panama, including the lake it uses to traverse and the mountains. The Pacific and Atlantic oceans don't different that much, maybe a few feet. And mostly due to tidal differences.
Plus literally chopping down a large stretch of both the Appalachians and the Sierra Nevada would be insane.
it could solve the water crisiseses
Dude all you need is 4 square meters and 2 water buckets
Assuming the river would be identical in depth and breadth to the Panama canal, if every man, woman, and child in the US picked up a shovel they would need to move 305 cubic feet of dirt each. So if we all just moved 1 cubic foot of dirt per day, we could pull this off in a year.
Do it small scale first and turn Florida into an island.
I feel like there has to be an easier way to solve the homeless problem in San Francisco.
This will require more bridges, which creates more jobs. It's genius!
I don't trust anyone South of the Mistersippi river.
In which direction would it flow?
From the center to the borders, due to rain.
I wouldn't be so certain about that. Evaporation might be stronger similar to the mediterreanian sea. So water would flow from both sides into the channel.
But such a project probably disturbes weather patterns and ocean currents all together. Hence, I don't think we can be curtain until we've tried it. Now grab your shovel. FOR SCIENCE!
Literally described the Mississippi river.
If we could connect the Missouri to the Snake River we could do pretty much the same thing. There's a seaport in Idaho already
A lot of the canals in the world (the majority I think, but please fact check that) were built in the 19th century. So yeah... with shovels.
With the low resolution I can't quite tell if I would suddenly live on the beach or underwater
I would need a study on if this would negatively impact desert ecosystems or introduce invasive species, but otherwise it sounds pretty cool if we limit the size until it's about as big as the new Panama Canal expansions.
Nevermind any communities you'd separate or destroy by dropping a big ol' river through the middle of them
Americans don't mind building highways, so it is not a concern to them.
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