91茄子

91茄子

Elon Musk’s not-so boring D.C. transit proposal

Elon Musk鈥檚 Boring Company has its eyes set on a high-speed transit tunnel from D.C. to Baltimore.

The Boring Company’s test tunnel in California. (Courtesy of The Boring Company)

It sounds like something straight out of the future. An underground, high-speed tunnel to transport you fast as a whip from the depths of D.C. to downtown Baltimore. No beltway traffic to fight through. No overly-caffeinated commuters to contend with.

Add it to the long list of projects dreamed up by Elon Musk. In addition to his plans to revolutionize the car industry and, Musk envisions a world of high-speed travel.

The , one of four companies headed by Musk, has proposed Loop, a high-speed underground public transportation tunnel. The twin tunnels would run for 35 miles from downtown D.C. to downtown Baltimore, beneath New York Avenue and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, according to the company鈥檚 website. The electric skates would transport 8-16 passengers at a time.

The east coast sibling to the test tunnel that runs through Hawthorne, California, the Loop would 鈥渟erve as the central artery for a potential future transportation network which would hopefully be extended to New York,鈥 the proposal stated.

Fred Ducca, transportation director at the University of Maryland research group , said while 鈥渋t would be more successful to go from New York to D.C.鈥 the shorter Loop serves as a 鈥渄emonstration that this will work.鈥

Clocking in at a proposed 125 to 150 miles per hour, the Loop from D.C. to Baltimore would take about 15 minutes to complete, according to the Boring Company鈥檚 website.

The secret to making high-speed travel a reality, according to the Boring Company, is efficient drilling.

鈥淔ast to dig, low cost tunnels would also make Hyperloop adoption viable and enable rapid transit across populated regions, enabling travel from New York to Washington, D.C. in less than 30 minutes,鈥 according to the company鈥檚 website.

Construction

Although the Boring Company has released a proposed map of where the Loop tunnels would run throughout D.C., there is no indication of when construction would begin.

The District鈥檚 Department of Transportation (DDOT) issued a construction staging permit to the Loop, according to DDOT spokeswoman Lauren Stephens.

The allows the Boring Company to 鈥渢emporarily restrict or prohibit public access to portions of a public roadway, alley or sidewalk due to construction or excavation related activities.鈥

DDOT has not issued a construction permit to begin drilling, Stephens said. Yet, she was unaware if 鈥減ermits had been granted for work on private property.鈥

The permit from the D.C. government will allow early excavation of a fenced-off parking lot in the NoMa neighborhood, a proposed Loop station site.

Before getting drill-happy, Ducca urges caution when constructing the tunnels. 鈥淭he problem they鈥檙e going to run into is that they don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to be in the way,鈥 Ducca said.

鈥淭hey might just be drilling along and run into something they didn鈥檛 know was there,鈥 Ducca said.

Although Boring Company has not released a budget, they have announced the cost will be privately funded, with minimal burden placed on the taxpayer.

A transit system with almost no cost to the state is an attractive proposal to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.

鈥淥ur administration is proud to support The Boring Company to bring rapid electric transportation to Maryland — connecting Baltimore City to D.C.,鈥 Hogan said in a written statement.

Maryland issued a conditional utility permit in October allowing the company to drill under the state roads, according to Hogan鈥檚 spokesman.

Although the Loop sounds like something straight out of the future, Musk has delivered on other, out-there ideas. Like launching a .

The Boring Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wash staff

A group of hard-working student journalists from American University covering DMV neighborhoods.

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