While I have used it a couple of times, I find the Channel Tunnel a little disappointing. I realize that this dates back to my childhood, when I had a couple of copies of a magazine called “Look and Learn”. In two of these were the second and third parts of a three-part article about life in 2001. The author tells us:
“In 2001 we will probably not have to use the cross-channel ferries at all. There will be at least one tunnel built under the channel, and perhaps more. And at the narrowest crossing point, between Calais and Dover, there will probably be a huge bridge. This will be of the suspension type. At both Calais and Dover tall towers will be built, and long cables strung between them across the channel width. The actual bridge will hang from this cable...These towers will certainly be the tallest building in Europe, and we will be able to travel up to their "summits" in lifts, and eat a meal in a glassed-in restaurant, watching the busy channel below us. ”
Look and Learn. 28th August 1971.
Perhaps, by the time of THS, such a bridge will have been built to supplement the (by then) several channel tunnels. Certainly it will need advanced technology materials!
The bridge will probably handle both road and rail traffic, suspended mono-rails running along the underside. There may even be a high-speed vactrain as a travel option. Towers that high will serve other purposes other than as the locations of restaurants. They are likely to mount radar, radio relays, and serve as docking points for airships. Whole communities may exist within the towers. Like many transition points, they will be nexuses of intrigue and enterprise. For French cuisine, visit Pascal’s, La Papillon or Le Haut Ciel, and for English classics, The Ale House or Blumenthal’s.
No visit to Europe in 2100 will be complete without visiting the Channel Bridge!
