Look Out, Jetsons! Elon Musk Lays Out His Plan For Futuristic Underground Travel Tunnels
BEL AIR (CBSLA) -- Elon Musk got a rock star reception in Bel Air Thursday - where he discussed his plans to build an ultra futuristic network of underground tunnels to change the way we travel in LA.
To solve LA's massive traffic problem, he says we have to go underground.
He said he was largely inspired by the "soul-sucking traffic on the 405."
He showed what the tunnels would look like in a test run done in the company's hyperloop chamber.
"We're aiming to go over 300 miles an hour. Accelerate over 300 miles per hour and break and that's in a vacuum tunnel," Musk said.
Musk showed images of a test tunnel already under construction in Hawthorne, the latest project would be another test tunnel running 2.7 miles under Sepulveda Boulevard running parallel to the 405 freeway.
"And if you could have hundreds of tunnels and small stations throughout the fabric of the city without even the city appearing different, you could solve the transport problem," Musk said.
The proposed Sepulveda test tunnel is on the fast track. The city council's public works committee waived environmental analysis that would still need full council approval. Two neighborhood groups have filed suit to block the environmental exemption.
Musk says he's eager to get public input.
"We're not suggesting this to the exclusion of other approaches but it's the one that we think would work and is worth trying," he said.