At least cooler heads prevailed.
In Mark Muckenfuss’ column in the Inland Press-Enterprise, he said he was doing some research about old Route 66 in Southern California when he uncovered a 1967 newspaper article by Earl E. Buie about Interstate 40 road-construction plans through the Bristol Mountains.
Normally, construction crews would have blasted their way through the hills with dynamite and bulldozers. But the project directors had more intriguing materials in mind.
Nuclear bombs.
No kidding.
According to Buie’s column, “Two nuclear blasts at either end of the proposed cut would be set off, literally lifting an estimated 68 million tons of rock out of the mountain.”
The resultant gash in the ground was expected to be 2 miles long, 300 feet deep and 1,200 feet wide at the top.
The minor annoyance of radioactivity didn’t seem to have bothered the planners, or Buie for that matter. Its potential problems aren’t mentioned in the piece. Perhaps the designers felt such negative aspects would be outweighed by being able to drive the highway at night without needing headlights.
They did expect to save money.
Conventional explosives, Buie reported, would have cost $22 million for the project. Nuclear bombs could do the blasting for $14 million.
Wow, radioactivity and a savings of nearly 60 percent.
You certainly couldn’t accuse these folks of not thinking outside the box.
Such a plan would have given Route 66 travelers more than just a nostalgic glow.