Elon Musk's Boring Co. got preliminary approval for a proof of concept tunnel under Los Angeles.
The City of Los Angeles has approved Elon Musk to be more boring, er, to do more boring of tunnels that is.
Actually, Los Angeles City Council’s public works committee approved an environmental review exemption for a tunnel that Musk, through his Boring Co., wants to dig to test his underground transportation system.
The committee approved the measure noting it was in favor of any idea that could help alleviate the crippling traffic jams that so often plague the city and surrounding areas. The motion now heads to the full City Council for approval.
The plans call for the company to drill a 2.7-mile “proof of concept” tunnel beneath the west side of the city. It would be used as testing area for Musk’s “Loop,” which he debuted last year amid much fanfare and perhaps even more questions.
(Elon Musk shows off his Boring Company, literally. Click Here for the story.)
A rendering of the HyperLoop shows a vehicle blasting through its near complete vacuum.
The system would a series of underground tubes for cars, pedestrians and bicyclists with pods that would speed through the tunnels at speeds of up to 150 mph, easing traffic in Los Angeles.
“It is a proof-of-concept, basically [an] excavation tunnel,” Bob Blumenfield, a City Councilmember who serves on the public works committee, told Curbed Los Angeles. “What we are approving [today] is not a public transit system.”
Last summer, Musk claimed he received approval to dig a tunnel to connect New York and Washington, D.C. Total travel time, he estimated, would be just 29 minutes, or a fraction of what it today takes even by air, never mind the fastest conventional trains operated by Amtrak.
However, that ended up being a bit presumptuous, although has now garnered the support of several high-profile politicians to conduct the research necessary to at least to get to the proof of concept stage in or near Washington D.C.
(Click Here for more about Musk’s underground hyperloop plans on the East Coast.)
The Los Angeles model features drivers parking their vehicle on a train car or pod, and then being lowered into the tunnel system. Once there, the vehicles could be moved at speeds in excess of 150 mph.
For now, he’s gotten to the point where municipalities are at least considering the idea. He has got plans beyond the first proof tunnel. He noted on Instagram the first tunnel would run from Los Angeles International Airport to Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood and Sherman Oaks.
He noted that the sleds would get users from “Westwood to LAX in 5 mins,” in a post.
(To see more about Musk’s plans for Mars, Click Here.)
“One of the most soul-destroying things is traffic,” Musk said recently in an interview at TED Talks. “It affects people in every part of the world. It takes away so much of your life. it’s horrible. It’s particularly horrible in L.A.”