This marks the first step in a continued process for the project. They will need to have their design approved at a future date before permits can be issued and construction begins.
The trip from the airport to downtown Las Vegas would take about seven minutes. Boring Company hopes to expand to other areas of the valley in the future.
Tesla vehicles will shuttle passengers through 10 miles of underground tunnels connecting the Strip to downtown Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium, the airport and more destinations. There will be multiple parallel tunnels so that each trip is an express trip that does not make other stops.
Watch as #lvcouncil discusses and votes on @boringcompany's application for the possible expansion of their underground monorail system into #DTLV: https://t.co/h5waa7wWxy
— City of Las Vegas (@CityOfLasVegas) December 16, 2020
Elon Musk owns about 80% of Boring Company.
SOURCES- City of Las Vegas, Boring Company
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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But is it not possible to make the tunnel lining with sufficient strength to support the tunnel even through the surrounding material is mud? Would be sad if you could only tunnel where there is a strong solid ground.
Of note, even the mayor, who had been opposing a lot of Boring Company stuff, seems to have agreed with this.
I always had a lot of respect for the OpenPRT guy, actually illustrating the engineering in his designs so people can understand the mechanical issues. I don't completely agree with his takes, but his earlier versions, using a hook and tadpole trike pods that can travel on roads locally seemed to have a kernel of viability. Though the balance between separating hook devices from the pod, rather than direct integration of the rail ride mechanism on the pod when it goes offline, struck me as a potential operational issue
This might be a good intermediary system on the way to a full hanging pod PRT:
https://openprtspecs.blogspot.com/2009/12/ultra-architecture-and-iteration.html
*hours later, Mordriel gasps, hops up and looks around*
Ye GODZ! WHY, Kehvan? WHY?! I haven't blinked for God knows how long and I feel like I've been on a never-ending water slide! xD
Definitely true on both accounts. On a day with heavy rain, you could have water all the way up TO your table lol. And the muck is… nothing more to say about that, it's not supportive. Also, I don't even want to know how many cemeteries we don't know about here that would need to be excavated. The underground mall here got decimated during tropical storm Allison back in the day. A lot of downtown was flooded. It would all be above ground transport, here.
TBC mentions it as an application on their website. They would /just/ fit, but not on a traditional road chassis. Would have to be some lower profile sled. A shipping container is 8.5' high, and TBC is using a tunnel diameter of 12'. Of course, if this application were worthwhile and it truly needed the additional diameter, not much would stop TBC from boring slightly larger tunnels with their learnings.
tunnel space is 3d, surface space is 2d.
you can do the same layout and capacity as the roads on the surface again and again for MILES deep before the temperatures become too hot.
I think the issue would be the height and width of a shipping container, not the weight.
Perhaps too high water table in Houston? Or muck that has no strength to support tunnel shape? I think Musk is buying Pflugerville site that was rumored for Tesla, for Boring.
Dude that's so awesome. I wish they would do something like that in Houston, but, it's Houston, so that won't happen. Not that I have to stay here. With Elon moving to Texas, it's definitely possible that he'd move Boring, too.
There are Boring ads for work in Austin, "Austin chalk" has been known as ideal tunneling forever. Even talk of moving whole company here. Austin just passed big rail/bus bond, includes underground stations and tunnels. And we'll keep it that way!
Wait, we're getting tunnels in Austin? I'll have to pop up there to see when that happens. I go there a lot lol. Depends in which Austin you mean, though. I'm talking about Texas. ^_~ I drive to Austin just to sit at coffee shops overnight [when there isn't a pandemic, heh]. I think places like that have issues with traffic that could definitely benefit from tunnels. Though, Austin has a good bus system (from what I've always been able to tell).
But Austin's tunnels would be… har har… weird. xD
What's the limit on the number of parallel tubes? Given how fast they can be constructed, I'd say this system is more flexible for growing demand than traditional city tubes.
I can imagine railroads using this in big cities to help move containers to and from intermodal facilities and the various industrial districts in a city (bypassing highway miles that are prone to congestion. Of course, we'd have to consider whether the weight of a shipping container would have implications for the tunnel specifications.
I think Musk is finally realizing the capacity limits of single car tunnels, and is now proposing bus-type transport underground, and multiple tunnels. Unfortunately, full point to point travel will have to include distribution centers and wait times, and how many tunnels will be enough? If it's now expanded to anyone and not just Tesla owners, I predict the system will get overwhelmed at times. Subways exist for a reason…
Elon! Keep at it. Although I still feel moving services and freight are better value props for this tech.
Moving to Austin, which will also be digging *normal* tunnels.
Boring!