CULVER CITY—Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk presented his plan Monday, January 22 to the Culver City Council to install a tunnel system under the city as a part of an innovative rapid-transit system known as the “hyperloop,” which he hopes to implement in Los Angeles.
The plans were presented to the city council by Jehn Balajadia, the operations coordinator for the Boring Company. Musk did not speak at the meeting.
“The purpose of the Boring Company is to alleviate soul-destroying traffic and augment public transit,” said Balajadia.
According to a press release from the Culver City Manager’s Office, “The Boring Company has proposed a privately funded human transportation tunnel that would run underneath the Westside of Los Angeles. The proposed route is from Hawthorne to West L.A., including underneath Sepulveda Boulevard through the City of Culver.”
The proposed hyperloop would feature electric skates capable of ferrying 8 to 16 passengers at a time at speeds of 125-150 miles per hour using vacuum pressure. The hyperloop would not require public funding. If successful in their testing trials, The Boring Company hopes to expand the use of its hyperloop systems to municipalities throughout the country.
Some on the Culver City Council expressed concern of The Boring Company’s plan.
“This is really seductive,” said councilmember Meghan Sahli-Wells. “It looks super-sexy and super-easy, but it’s half-baked from a public perspective.”
The city has not yet approved nor rejected the project. They have not received any official applications for permitting from The Boring Company.
