The Boring Company: Elon Musk announces plans for second LA tunnel

Elon Musk’s tunnelling start-up, The Boring Company, has put forward plans to build a second tunnel underneath the streets of Los Angeles.

The firm plans to dig a 6.5-mile “proof of process tunnel” that connects central LA with neighbouring Culver City, Wired reports. The company’s goal is to alleviate traffic problems in LA and prove it can “build across jurisdictions”.

Jehn Balajadia, The Boring Company’s operations chief, put forward the plans to Culver City council members, the website says, but the tunnel received a mixed response from those in attendance.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

According to Engadget, council members are concerned the tunnel, which sends cars through a series of underground tubes at high speeds, would “undermine public options”. The council also claims “a private system wouldn't be held to the same standards” as public transport.

Speaking at the meeting, Culver City council member Meghan Sahli-Wells said the system “looks super-sexy and super-easy, but it's half-baked from a public perspective”, BBC News reports.

However, a spokesperson from The Boring Company told the news site that, apart from a few exceptions, the firm had received “very positive” feedback from councils and governments across the US about its hi-tech transport tunnels.

Meanwhile, Electrek says the company has already completed a 100 metre stretch of its first tunnel, which is being built underneath the SpaceX headquarters’ car park in the LA neighbourhood of Hawthorne.

The local council recently gave Musk’s start-up the green light to extend the tunnel by an extra two miles towards Los Angeles International Airport, the site says.