The Boring Company’s first tunnel is set for an unveiling in just over a month’s time, and founder Elon Musk has been sharing details of what visitors can expect at the December 10 launch party. The two-mile tunnel, built by the SpaceX campus in Hawthorne, California, could be the sign of things to come in the world of transportation.
The project is the first to result from Musk’s tunnel-digging venture, started in December 2016 with the goal of alleviating Los Angeles traffic. The first tunnel started as a trench 30 feet wide, 50 feet long and 15 feet deep before morphing into a tunnel that extends out to the Hawthorne Boulevard intersection. The company is set to open its tunnel up for free rides the following day. Musk described the tunnel as “disturbingly long,” and tongue-in-cheek described the launch party as “very one-dimensional,” likely referring to the fact that sleds are expected to traverse the tunnel in one of two directions.
The tunnel is nearly here.
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Part of Musk’s planned tunnel is the “skate,” a multi-function design capable of transporting up to 16 passengers or one car depending on the configuration. Musk claims that pods will move across the Hawthorne tunnel at speeds of 155 mph, a notable 20 mph faster than previous claims. The test tunnel is expected to meet with a test garage at a residential property that lowers cars 40 feet below the surface through a hole 20 feet by 10 feet.
If the tunnel proves a success, it could demonstrate future applications for the technology. Expected projects from the same firm include a 3.6-mile link from Los Angeles’ red metro line to the Dodger Stadium to ferry passengers in under four minutes, plus a Chicago loop between O’Hare Airport and Block 37 that moves up to four times faster than current links.
Future projects could tackle even more ambitious ideas, like a hyperloop-capable route from Washington, D.C. to New York that could move skates at up to 700 mph.
It could all start with this tunnel under Hawthorne.
