Brunel had his ships. Trump had his walls. And now Musk wants to make... tunnels, tunnels under cities to reduce traffic congestion and make the world a better, cleaner, less rage-filled place.
Over the weekend, probably while sitting in traffic behind the wheel of an autonomous Tesla, Musk tweeted: "Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging." An hour later, probably while still sitting in traffic, giving him plenty of time to think of a witty pun, he declared: "It shall be called 'The Boring Company.' Boring, it's what we do."
And finally, an hour after that, just in case any of us were foolish enough to think the billionaire multi-CEO was joking, Musk said, "I am actually going to do this." He also changed his Twitter bio to include "Tunnels."
So, unless Musk was suffering from a prolonged bout of entrepreneurial road rage, we now know roughly how long it takes a pedigree industrialist to pick a new disruptible domain: two hours, give or take.
Tunnels are indeed a pretty good solution for traffic congestion, though they take a long time to build, and the construction usually causes a huge amount of disruption above ground—especially if those tunnels are being built in a metropolitan area, which is where you'll find most of the world's congestion.
Depending on the setting, it can be very difficult and expensive to build tunnels as well. Cut-and-cover—where you dig up an existing road, build a tunnel, and put the road back—is the only "cheap" tunnel building method, but it's so incredibly disruptive that most tunnels nowadays are built at deeper depths by automated tunnel boring machines (TBMs). Cost-wise, you're looking at about £1 billion per mile for TBMs: London's Crossrail, with 13 miles of new tunnel, will cost around £15 billion; Manhattan's second avenue subway line, with 8.5 miles of new tunnel, will cost about $17 billion. The costs are much lower if you just want to bore through a mountain—the just-completed 35-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland cost a mere £10 billion (and took 17 years to build!)—but I doubt Musk has those kinds of tunnels in mind.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday December 19 2016, @09:26PM
Especially in southern Cali. The earth does move - sometimes quite violently.
Perhaps that's his business model though? Put it in cheap, make a killing on return calls.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by jrmcferren on Tuesday December 20 2016, @01:19AM
There would be money in tolls. People would be willing to pay for an express tunnel under a city on some major highways. This won't work in all areas (seismic concerns) or with all vehicles (I don't want to be in the same tunnel as a tanker full of fuel), but it is a start. Allow me to illustrate this concept using I95:
Start in Washington DC
Drive north to Baltimore
Enter Baltimore bypass tunnel avoiding local traffic.
Drive under Baltimore
Leave tunnel and move north toward Philly.
Enter Philly Bypass Tunnel to avoid local traffic
Drive under Philly
Leave tunnel and proceed to NYC.
Enter NYC bypass tunnel
Drive under NYC.
Leave tunnel and proceed to Boston.
Take appropriate exit in Boston.
Now imagine hitting any of these cities at rush hour (or NYC at any time) and you can see why the simple idea of simply bypassing major cities is worth paying for. Think of it like an express train, except it is a highway.
Of course the obligatory infrastructure would be needed in these tunnels plus:
High CRI (possibly with color shift and dimming) LED lighting.
Mobile Network repeaters (if I'm paying for access I want mobile connectivity)
Satellite radio repeaters (your target market will likely have a subscription).
News and traffic station broadcasting via special transmission equipment.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday December 22 2016, @12:53AM
I vaguely recall that the cost to build parts of L.A.'s new metro subway approached $5 million dollars per FOOT. How long a tunnel did he say he wants?
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.