It's not all about speedy transit, Elon Musk also wants to build sewers.
At the National League of Cities' City Summit on Thursday, the billionaire said he wants the Boring Company to "do tunneling for like water transport, sewage, electrical," according to Forbes. "We're not going to turn our noses up at sewage tunnels. We're happy to do that too."
Thousands of mayors and city officials from all over the US reportedly gathered in Los Angeles for the annual summit, where LA Mayor Eric Garcetti sat down with Musk, also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, to talk about future projects.
"We're looking to revolutionary implementations of advanced tunneling and I think we can really transform the transportation network of America, but key to that is the support cities," Musk reportedly said.
The Boring Company's underground transportation loop in the Los Angeles area could reportedly be ready in four years, as the company's first test project opens next month in Hawthorne, California. Musk and Garcetti reportedly invited city officials to attend the company's Dec. 10 party.
The loop is like a large "skate" or platform that could carry a vehicle under and around Los Angeles traffic at speeds up to 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour). Musk has unveiled plans for a system of stations across the Los Angeles metro area.
The Boring Company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
IPredictAReddit on November 10th, 2018 at 14:32 UTC »
If he really can get the price down on boring, both large-bore for cars/subway/hyperloop, and small-bore for sewers and water pipes, then....he's really on to something. It solves all sorts of problems with right-of-way since we have two sets of property rights regimes: one for above ground, which interrupts all sorts of infrastructure, and one for below-ground, which is pretty easy to work in.
And don't underestimate the importance of being able to run new infrastructure underground. We built most of our water and sewer systems 75 years ago, and they were designed to last maybe 50. They're in bad shape, but as consumers, we just assume that water magically comes out of our taps, and our shit magically disappears. Raising rates a penny makes people freak out because they don't know what goes into delivering those goods. It's a massive problem. And in many places, sewer systems don't exist, and soil isn't suitable for septic, so you get standing sewage and, in some places, hookworm, which is a developing nation problem. In the US.
So yeah, this is a pretty big deal as it solves some pretty pernicious problems. Not the grand ones that grab headlines, but important ones.
elzeardbouffier on November 10th, 2018 at 14:00 UTC »
Come to pittsburgh and do that, our sewer infrastructure is totally fucked.
bicode on November 10th, 2018 at 12:44 UTC »
He’s clearly planning to dig beneath the surface of Mars.