Elon Musk’s Boring Company already seeks to expand tunnels under LA, mayor shows enthusiasm

Elon Musk’s small tunnel boring startup, the Boring Company, appears to still be moving at breakneck pace.

The company is now seeking to expand its tunnels under Los Angeles as Mayor Garcetti seems open to the idea.

It follows news that the Boring Company is getting a second multi-million dollar boring machine and started work on a Baltimore-DC underground Hyperloop.

But the main project seems to be the tunnel under Los Angeles at the moment.

Earlier this week, Daily Breeze reported that the company has applied for excavation permits that would result in a significant expansion of its tunnel in Hawthorne into Los Angeles, connecting the South Bay, Westside and San Fernando Valley, city officials said Tuesday.

They reportedly already completed a 305-feet (100 meters) tunnel with an entrance in SpaceX’s parking lot in Hawthorne and they have received the green light to extend the tunnel by 2 miles in Hawthorne toward the Los Angeles International Airport.

Last month, Musk said that the new section of the tunnel would be completed in “3 to 4 months”:

500 ft so far. Should be 2 miles long in three or four months and hopefully stretch the whole 405 N-S corridor from LAX to the 101 in a year or so.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2017

Now those new excavation permits seem to be for this new LAX to 101 corridor.

This new section will be more complex on a regulatory basis since the company is expanding out of its home in Hawthorne, but Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti showed enthusiasm in the project yesterday:

L.A. has always been a place where innovators come to build new ideas that can change our lives. Looking forward to exploring how @ElonMusk’s Boring Company could help us build a better future for our city. https://t.co/doolkpsuZw pic.twitter.com/om7nWEmteD

— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) November 22, 2017

Improving tunnel boring technology to accelerate and lower the cost of the tunneling process is only one part of Elon Musk’s idea for the Boring Company tunnel system in Los Angeles.

They also plan to use Tesla’s technology for its transportation system in the tunnels – a sort of electric skate platform to transport cars autonomously faster and more efficiently. By moving cars on tracks instead of driving between lanes, they can reduce the tunnel to a 13.5-foot diameter, which consequently reduces the cost of boring.

https://youtu.be/u5V_VzRrSBI

Testing this technology was also part of the plan submitted to the city of Hawthorne for the 2-mile long tunnel to be completed in the coming weeks.

We don’t have yet all the details for the planned expansion in the South Bay, Westside and San Fernando Valley.