Elon Musk is clearly obsessed with transportation, based on his positions at Tesla and SpaceX and the Hyperloop transport system he dreamed up. At times, he has made some comments that made some wonder about his sanity (such as his wish to die on Mars but not on impact), but his plans to build tunnels under Los Angeles may have sounded even stranger than anything else he has ever said.
Most probably thought he was joking, but we’ve learned anything about Elon Musk over the years, it’s that he takes something widely seen as a pipe dream and tries to turn it into reality.
Elon Musk: “traffic is nuts”
The Tesla CEO tweeted today that he’s ready to start working on his plan to tunnel through the earth.
Exciting progress on the tunnel front. Plan to start digging in a month or so.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2017
Musk complained about traffic in Los Angeles last month on Twitter, saying that it was “driving me nuts.” Then he added that he plans to build a “tunnel boring machine and just start digging.” He declared that the company he will form to do the digging will be called The Boring Company. He also said that he was actually going to do this—no joke.
Elon Musk wants to tunnel from his SpaceX office
The billionaire entrepreneur said he plans to start his tunnel in his office at SpaceX across from his desk. Then he wants to tunnel from Crenshaw and the 105 Freeway near the Los Angeles Airport. Of course whether or not any of this would even be feasible is questionable, and some still believe that he must be joking. After all, just securing permits for a tunnel such as this would take a long time, notes USA Today. Cost overruns are also a huge problem with such underground projects, which are expensive and often face many delays.
The newspaper also points out that Elon Musk’s timing is apt, as President Trump wants to boost infrastructure spending. The Tesla CEO’s project would certainly be a major infrastructure project.
