Big Train says:
I was were someone who was responsible for maintaining the survivability of the United States during, after a nuclear war, or mass casualty
catastrophe, I would be absolutely certain that I had secret tunnels under parts of the US.
Why?
If there were a disaster that compromised most of the country's infrastructure, the chances are it'd damage portions of the underground tunnels as
well. And only a single breach in a tunnel between two places means that entire tunnel system is out, since you can't very well get out and walk
around it!
Besides, what is the point of moving vast quantities of people from one area to another after a nuclear war or a hurricane? If you want information,
there're lots of ways to send and receive it, primarily via encrypted and frequency-hopping AM radio. And if a few people need to get from Point A
to Point B, a helicopter deck at each major node and a couple hundred Sikorsky CH-60's or Boeing CH-47's would do just fine.
You can be sure that they exist and that only a select few people actually know about them.
Do you have any idea at all what the engineering scope of work it would take, in both people and money, to design, excavate, and operate
transcontinental tunnels? Do you know how many thousands of people would have to be involved in the excavation, shoring, and furbishing of these
tunnels? Think about it this way: take the amount needed to build a transcontinental superhighway -- and multiply it by six to eight.
How do you think you could keep
that secret?
Naah. The logic -- and logistics -- simply don't add up for a huge network of secret tunnels across the country. There are simply too many other
cheaper, safer, more reliable, and more secure ways to move people in the aftermath of a disaster.