Grimes's boyfriend Elon Musk took to his Instagram today to share an important update on one of his many high-profile, potentially revolutionary transportation projects. Musk’s Boring Company has nearly completed its first underground Los Angeles tunnel, which aims to decongest the city’s traffic by allowing pedestrians and cyclists to board a capsule that would transport them from point A to point B along its many proposed routes. (Did you hear that? Every single person who has ever been stuck in L.A. traffic just screamed for joy.) It’s like a subway, but… built by a billionaire who one day got really fed up with traffic and decided to “build a tunnel” and “just start digging.”
Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging...
This first tunnel, which will run 2.7 miles through West L.A., was unanimously given an environmental review exemption last month by City Council, the Los Angeles Times reports. Musk claims that he will be able to offer free demo rides to the public in just a few months, pending some “final regulatory approvals,” as he wrote on Instagram. Musk promises that the system will prioritize pedestrians and cyclists and cost less than a bus ticket.
The general idea is that the capsules will be able to transport cars and pods containing eight to 16 people through tunnels with entry and exit points once every mile. The tunnel will be 30 to 70 feet below ground without stations along the way, effectively avoiding major utility lines and other underground hazards.
This idea is similar in kind to Musk’s other popular project: a Hyperloop that would be able to transport people from New York City to Washington, D.C. in just 29 minutes. Last summer, Musk was given a preliminary green light from the government to begin the project, and as of February of this year, his Boring Company is still forging ahead with the plans.
