Elon Musk is planning to build a tunnel in LA because traffic was driving him nuts. Musk tweeted his announcement late December and said that the tunnel boring machine will be called "The Boring Company", and playfully added "tunnels" to his Twitter bio alongside Tesla , SpaceX, and OpenAI. Early Wednesday morning, Musk updated his followers on Twitter that he was working on planning his tunnel project and that digging will most likely begin in a month or so.
He implied that he thought of the idea while he was sitting in traffic. However, the project in its current form, isn't designed to cut down traffic, but to facilitate the safe commute of SpaceX employees. Musk was sitting in traffic at around 5 am on December 17, a few hours after three SpaceX employees on their way home were hit by a car while crossing Crenshaw Boulevard.
Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday that they will start digging the tunnel on the SpaceX campus located at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and Interstate 105. The area is five minutes away from Los Angeles International Airport. According to the Business Insider , the tunnel, which is estimated to be 50-feet deep and 50-to-100 feet wide, will give Musk's employees a safer way to get across Crenshaw to the parking lot and avoid unnecessary traffic or accidents.
Additionally, it will allow Tesla to transport its equipment. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Arnie Shadbehr, Hawthorne City Manager, have said in an interview that Musk has been working with city officials for about a year now to bring the project to life. Elon Musk gets serious with starting the project in a month and he doesn't need to obtain construction permits since the project will be built primarily on SpaceX's property, Shadbehr adds.
