The Boring Company, which is owned by Elon Musk, no longer plans to build a tunnel under the Los Angeles Westside. The announcement came on Tuesday after residents in the city sued local authorities for their decision to exempt the project from environmental reviews. The tunnel as planned would have run from a property in Sepulveda Boulevard owned by the Boring Company to the Washington Boulevard in Culver City. The idea was first conceived and brought to the public last year.
In a statement that was released by the Boring Company, the company did admit that there was increasing pressure from the lawsuits filed by residents in the city adding that it had amicably settled the matter to the satisfaction of all parties. In addition to this, the statement also noted that the Boring Company has abandoned the project in Culver City noting that it will now focus on building an operational tunnel at Dodger Stadium. The tunnel at the Dodger Stadium is designed to ferry fans from subway lines to the ballpark in a matter of minutes. The project has been named the Dugout Loop and the trip is expected to take less than 4 minutes and it will cost only $1.
The Boring Company will also continue with other plans to build another test tunnel that will run from its SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne and will be two miles long. The timelines for the project are not yet clear but it’s very likely that it will be done and dusted by the end of the year. An initial estimate as highlighted by the company’s CEO Elon Musk was to have the tunnel running by December 10. We are not sure whether the Boring Company is on course to meet this schedule. However, Elon Musk has already shared a few pictures of the tunnel through his Twitter account. It does look from the pictures that a lot of progress has already been made.
During a podcast with Joe Rogan, Musk said that the Boring Company started out as a joke. The idea of digging tunnels under Los Angeles was in fact born out of frustration. Los Angeles is notorious for its traffic and the subway isn’t enough to help move people around the city with ease. Musk thought that underground tunnels would offer a much better and more efficient alternative.
The Boring Company has raised a lot of money that has gone towards supporting its projects. The plan from the company was to have tunnels in a number of major cities in the US. But so far it does look like Los Angeles is the first priority. The decision to abandon this latest project could, however, send jitters among investors. Nonetheless, the company still has a lot to focus on. The hope at the moment will be to make sure that such a decision will not be taken in another initiative in the city of Los Angeles. So far things are running smoothly though and the first operational tunnel will open this year if all goes according to the plan.
