Elon Musk's Boring Company wants to build a tunnel to Dodger Stadium
How do you solve the problem of traffic jamming every time there's a match at the Dodger Stadium? If you ask Elon Musk, it's simple: Dig a tunnel.
In a blog post published Thursday, the company detailed its vision for the Dugout Loop -- a "zero-emissions, high-speed, underground public transportation system from the Los Feliz, East Hollywood, or Rampart Village neighborhoods ("western terminus") to Dodger Stadium in the City of Los Angeles."
The Dugout Loop aims to reduce the often horrid Los Angeles traffic, especially during events at the Dodger Stadium. According to the company, the project will transport people in the neighborhoods outlined above to the stadium in "less than 4 minutes."
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Exactly how this would work is not set in stone yet. The Boring Company posted a map with three different proposals (see below), which it says will be evaluated in the review process for the project.
The blog post is accompanied with a pretty detailed FAQ. According to the information there, the construction of the Dugout Loop shouldn't take more than 14 months. The project will not interfere with the metro and the tunnel will be dug deep enough (30 feet underground or more) that its construction will be basically undetectable from the surface. Once finished, the tunnel will have electric skates traveling at 125-150 miles per hour, carrying 8-18 passengers each, for the cost of roughly $1 per ride (though the FAQ points out that the fares aren't finalized).
One interesting tidbit from the FAQ reveals that the project isn't designed to transport a massive amount of people. It will initially be limited to roughly 1,400 people per event, which could eventually be increased to 2,800 people per event, which is 5% of the Dodger Stadium capacity.
Getting in and out should be as simple as getting into the electric skate (which, by the way, will be "based around the Tesla Model X platform"), which will be transported from the surface to the tunnel via elevators.
Finally, the project will be "100 percent privately funded and will require zero taxpayer dollars," the post claims.
The project will be available for public review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) starting August 16, but it's unclear when the construction could start.
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
