Photo Gallery Bridging the Red Sea
An image snapped from the Space Shuttle Endeavor shows the Sinai Peninsula (left) and the Strait of Tiran. The finger of water in the middle is the Gulf of Aqaba; the bulge in the lower right is the Red Sea. Egypt and Saudi Arabia plan to build a 32-kilometer (20-mile) bridge across the bottom of the gulf.
Muslim pilgrims pray inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The bridge would provide Arab states in North Africa with a direct connection to fellow Arab states in the Middle East. Planners believe that tolls paid by millions of Muslim pilgrims on their way to holy sites in Saudi Arabia could make up for the roughly $5 billion (3.6 billion) the bridge is expected to cost. They also believe the bridge will significantly increase the number of pilgrims.
One end of the bridge would stand at Ras Nasrani, near the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh (seen here), and the other on Saudi Arabia's Ras Hamid. The trip across is expected to take 22 minutes by car.
A view of the Jordanian port of Aqaba: The plan could be opposed by Jordan and Israel because the Gulf of Aqaba provides them with access to the Indian Ocean.
