The infrastructure projects of the future have the potential to break down geographical barriers and make distant lands a simple commute.
One idea that refuses to go away is a proposed tunnel between Britain and the United States, a colossal undertaking estimated to cost a staggering £15.6trillion.
The two nations have long shared a “special relationship” and continue to have close ties despite being 3,400 miles away from each other.
A flight from London to New York currently takes around eight hours, but proponents of a transatlantic tunnel believe the journey time could be cut down to the length of your morning commute.
The idea, which has been around for over a century, would be to construct a tunnel under the Atlantic, which in some areas is miles deep.
For context, the Channel Tunnel runs just 23.5 miles under the sea between England and France and took six years to build.
Various approaches have been suggested for how the Transatlantic Tunnel would work over the years, such as building it entirely under the seabed, constructing a tube above the seabed or even a combination of the two.
Others have suggested a floating tunnel some 49 metres below the ocean surface put together from tens of thousands of pre-fabricated sections and cables.
It is thought this would allow trains to pass between the two continents, avoiding the crushing pressure of the lower depths while also steering clear of ships and treacherous weather on the surface.
Though what most agree on is it would be built for trains rather than vehicles, as car journeys would take several days and additional infrastructure would be needed to support drivers making the trip.
Vactrains would theoretically be able to travel at speeds of up to 5,000mph, reducing the London to New York City journey time to just 54-minutes.
Jet propulsion has also been proposed as a means of propelling the carriages at high speed, though this approach would require 18 minutes to slow down after reaching top speed in order to stop on the other side safely.
Given the enormous costs and logistical issues associated with the idea, no serious proposals are currently being considered by governments on either side of the pond.
But in a world with reusable rockets and AI growing in intelligence every day, the prospect of a trip down to Manhattan for an afternoon doesn’t seem so far-fetched.