Underground tunnels promise to end traffic jams

Elon Musk He is a billionaire known for his grandiose projects, and one of his recent initiatives was the construction of underground tunnels. With this, he aims to ease traffic in big cities like Los Angeles, which he started his project called The Boring Company.

Keep reading and understanding more about Elon Musk’s underground tunnels.

See how the idea of ​​building underground tunnels came about

The idea first came to light in a tweet from the billionaire in late 2016. “Traffic is driving me crazy. I’m going to build a tunnel boring machine and start digging.

Subsequently, the Boring Company was established with the goal of building underground tunnels to end traffic jams cities. But six years later, the only tunnels open to the public are just 2.7 kilometers long, under the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The tunnels were built in about a year using drilling machines and cost about $47 million, according to The Boring Company. However, the LVCC Loop system only works when large conventions are taking place in Nevada. Moreover, trips are still free, but officials do not rule out the possibility that there will be a cost in the future for using the tunnel.

In 2018, Elon Musk predicted that cars would zip through the tunnel at 150 miles per hour. However, in tests conducted by EL PAÍS, the top speed was only 36 mph.

Will there be tunnels in other cities?

At present, according to media reports, underground tunnel projects in Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore have been abandoned, and the Las Vegas LVCC system is still very different from Musk’s original idea.

Moreover, when the billionaire presented a prototype of these tunnels, he assured the public that only autonomous electric vehicles would use them. However, in Las Vegas, every Tesla has a chauffeur.

The LVCC Loop opened in 2021 and, according to The Boring Company, is in operation when a major convention is being held in town. At the SEMA 2021 auto show, for example, the system transported “between 24,000 and 26,000 passengers per day.”

EL PAÍS spoke with tunnel users and none of them found any flaws in the free system. The newspaper also attempted to contact the Boring Company about future projects and fees, but received no response.