Elon Musk’s Boring Company got a step closer to building another tunnel to transport people in Tesla cars, this time in Florida.
On Tuesday evening, Fort Lauderdale approved a proposal from The Boring Company to build tunnels between its downtown and the beach, a route of about three miles. The dual tunnels (one to the coast, the other back) would be called the “Las Olas Loop,” named for the city’s beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The company’s first “Loop” is in Las Vegas.
Based on city council documents, The Boring Company proposed the beach tunnel (or “subsurface public transportation system”) on June 21. The agenda item says Musk’s proposal advances “transportation that prioritizes [s]afety and emphasizes multimodal mobility and accessibility.”
According to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean J. Trantalis, other companies have 45 days to propose alternative transit plans.
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Earlier this year, Elon Musk’s Boring Company opened a 1.7-mile Loop in Las Vegas. It uses Tesla vehicles to carry passengers through narrow passageways.
If Las Vegas is any indicator, The Boring Company might fall short of its lofty promises. The company initially promised that autonomous electric pods would run through tunnels under the Las Vegas convention center at high speeds. Instead, a fleet of Tesla Model X and 3 cars take passengers to various stops at normal driving speeds.
The Sun-Sentinel reported that the tunnels in Fort Lauderdale would be similar to those in Las Vegas at 12-feet wide.
Transit officials checked out Elon Musk’s tunnel and tried very hard not to mock it
Trantalis told the Sun-Sentinel that The Boring Company estimated the project will cost more than $30 million. In Las Vegas, The Boring Company completed construction in about one year for more than $50 million.
A second Las Vegas Loop tunnel is also in the works, while a test tunnel in Los Angeles connects the SpaceX campus to a station 1.14 miles away. The Boring Company says it ultimately wants to build a Hyperloop between major cities with pods traveling at 600 mph, but obviously it’s not even close to that goal yet.
