Is Elon Musk getting into the tunnel game?
Jan 27, 2017, 4:22 PM | Updated: 4:56 pm
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk unveils the company's newest products, in Hawthorne, Calif. Just weeks after suddenly tweeting "Traffic is driving me nuts" and "am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging," Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla founder says it's on the verge of happening. "Exciting progress on the tunnel front," he tweeted Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. "Plan to start digging in a month or so." (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
Business magnate Elon Musk hates traffic and he may be on a mission to dig us all out of our jams.
Traffic is in Musk’s wheelhouse, given that he is the man behind Tesla Motors — the famous, and stylish, electric car. The latest model can go 295 miles on a charge. But what good is that if you are sitting in traffic?
Related: UW students enter Tesla’s hyperloop race
CNN’s tech blog reports that Musk, the man behind Tesla Motors, tweeted in December that Los Angeles traffic was driving him “nuts.”
Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging…
He expressed that tunnels would be a good way to solve the issue. He would call his tunneling venture “the boring project.” That was in December, but it seems that Musk has not let go of his idea. In fact, his Twitter bio now reads “Tesla, SpaceX, tunnels…”
Again on Twitter:
Exciting progress on the tunnel front. Plan to start digging in a month or so.
It is unclear exactly how serious Musk is about his tunnel ambitions. Or whether they will be for cars, mass transit, or a personal system akin to what gave Bruce Wayne easy access to the Batcave.
“So you were serious? Like, serious, serious?” one person on Twitter replied to Musk. “Yep,” he replied, noting the tunnel would start right across from his desk at SpaceX, his space exploration company. He referenced routes along Crenshaw Boulevard and I-105.
Musk’s idea, he has said, is a tunnel system with various levels — up to 30 levels.
From Musk to Seattle
If Musk truly wants to pursue digging tunnels, he may want to take a look at Seattle as a good example. He might learn that tunnel projects don’t come to fruition in under a month. And Musk hasn’t filed any paper work with the City of Los Angeles.
What will likely come to Seattle minds first is the infamous Bertha tunnel project. The boring machine is currently digging under Seattle to make way for a new State Route 99 through downtown, and ultimately replace the aging viaduct. It’s been hotly debated on what halted the machine’s progress so early in its journey. It also took nearly two years to dig an access tunnel to the machine and repair it. Since it has been back up and boring, Bertha has made significant progress, however. It is currently in zone 9 of it’s 10-zone trip.
But Seattle tunneling is not all about Bertha. Sound Transit is currently boring tunnels to complete its northern stretch of light rail routes to Northgate. But prior to this segment, Sound Transit tunneled under the canal to connect Capitol Hill to the University of Washington.
Then there are the tunnels under Seattle that aren’t often traveled — by people any way. Seattle is currently in the process of upgrading its sewage treatment system and that involves boring tunnels to hold storm water and sewage. Rain water and sewage eventually get combined into one pipe leading to a treatment plant. It was built for a smaller Seattle population long ago. Today, when it rains, those pipe can overflow. And when that happens, they empty into the nearest body of water — Elliott Bay, Lake Union, or Lake Washington, for example.
Here’s video of that happening in Elliott Bay.
And if Musk is actually thinking of the Bruce Wayne-style of tunnels. Well, Seattle may have considered something similar to that as well.
Put a lid on it
Tunnels might not be the ultimate solution. Musk could also consider what many in Seattle promote — putting a lid over I-5.
Related: Proponents of I-5 lid getting serious
The freeway essentially cuts a canyon through the middle of the city, cutting off streets from each other. The idea is to construct a lid over the freeway, similar to how the convention center and its neighboring park is built over the freeway currently. This way, downtown streets can connect to their Capitol Hill and First Hill counterparts.
The group promoting the I-5 lid idea has been raising money to hire an employee to lead the effort.
Either way, we applaud Musk’s spirit. No one likes sitting in traffic.
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