The Boring Company Receives Permit to Dig in D.C.

The Boring Company continues to piece together permits to make its Washington D.C. to New York Hyperloop plan a reality.

The latest is approval for preparation and preliminary excavation of a site within D.C. at 53 New York Avenue NE, next to a McDonald’s and near the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to The Washington Post.

Elon Musk said over the summer that he had received verbal government approval to build a tunnel for his planned high-speed, underground transportation system. It seems there’s no formal agreement, but the White House has reportedly been warm to Musk’s plans.

A Boring Company spokesman told The Washington Post that “a New York Avenue location, if constructed, could become a station” in a broad network of such stops across the new system.

Musk recently received a conditional permit to start digging in Hawthorne, Maryland for a 10.3 mile route. That effort would be part of the D.C. to Baltimore leg to be built first. Eventually, the tunnel would connect New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and D.C.

Musk has said the entire New York to D.C. trip will take 29 minutes.

 

[Electroman]

I don't get this. The concept of Hyperloop is still technically not out of the lab and not proven yet on a test track of a reasonable distance of say 5 or 10 miles. And now this concept has now moved from above ground to tunnels underground? Is somehow tunnels underground more safer than above ground?

i say prove this thing works with all of the safety that has to go with it, before you start digging in populated areas like DC and NY. Had this been from anyone else other than Musk, they would be asked to go work on it and prove ever aspect of it works before even their application is given any consideration.

 

[jelloslug]

I don't get this. The concept of Hyperloop is still technically not out of the lab and not proven yet on a test track of a reasonable distance of say 5 or 10 miles. And now this concept has now moved from above ground to tunnels underground? Is somehow tunnels underground more safer than above ground?

i say prove this thing works with all of the safety that has to go with it, before you start digging in populated areas like DC and NY. Had this been from anyone else other than Musk, they would be asked to go work on it and prove ever aspect of it works before even their application is given any consideration.

This is not the hyperloop.

 

[roblab]

I don't get this. The concept of Hyperloop is still technically not out of the lab and not proven yet on a test track of a reasonable distance of say 5 or 10 miles. And now this concept has now moved from above ground to tunnels underground? Is somehow tunnels underground more safer than above ground?

i say prove this thing works with all of the safety that has to go with it, before you start digging in populated areas like DC and NY. Had this been from anyone else other than Musk, they would be asked to go work on it and prove ever aspect of it works before even their application is given any consideration.

You think Tesla/Musk has not "proved" everything? You must be new.

 

[Electroman]

Okay what is that about this tunnel and whatever skates or gizmo that will go inside this has been tested and proven, that is ready to be taken to a public project?

 

[RDoc]

Okay what is that about this tunnel and whatever skates or gizmo that will go inside this has been tested and proven, that is ready to be taken to a public project?

Elon in some ways reminds me of Trump (whom I detest). Both of them don't think outside the box, they kick out the sides of the box and just start running. Sure, it's not ready, and might not even make any sense, but it's something different and if we keep on doing the same ol, same ol, we'll all be under 30m of seawater.

 

[Electroman]

This is not the hyperloop.

Electrek thinks this tunnel is for Hyperloop

Elon Musk’s Boring Company gets green-light for possible hyperloop station in Washington

but it's something different and if we keep on doing the same ol, same ol, we'll all be under 30m of seawater

Oh, I am all for trying something different and be innovative. But try it out first on a test track and prove it to yourself that it works, before you start digging for a real public project. SpaceX came to Cape only after sending one to orbit from a remote Island.

 

[dhanson865]

Okay what is that about this tunnel and whatever skates or gizmo that will go inside this has been tested and proven, that is ready to be taken to a public project?

Hyperloop pulls a vaccum, Loop doesn't, just boring tunnels.

again that is

Hyperloop = vaccum, pods, unproven tech
Loop = air, skates, proven tech.

If you want to know what is proven about Loop, go to The Boring Company - Q&A • r/BoringCompany and start watching videos. There are multiple tunnels, multiple kinds of tests have been done. Nothing is proceeding without insane amounts of paperwork and safety documentation.

and yes, he did say that DC to NY will be a Hyperloop and they are starting the tunneling but that doesn't mean they have to finalize the design of the pods or pull a vacuum. If the hyperloop tech isn't ready they'll just run it as a Loop first and upgrade it to a Hyperloop later.

This isn't rocket science, it's tunnel science.

 

[Electroman]

and start watching videos

The first link in there is an official video. Wow, slick graphics and CGI. I agree. What more to prove?

Besides we have some university students who ran a few pods for about 100 meters in a partial vacuum tube.

I am sold.

 

[jelloslug]

Elon in some ways reminds me of Trump (whom I detest). Both of them don't think outside the box, they kick out the sides of the box and just start running. Sure, it's not ready, and might not even make any sense, but it's something different and if we keep on doing the same ol, same ol, we'll all be under 30m of seawater.

 

[dhanson865]

The first link in there is an official video. Wow, slick graphics and CGI. I agree. What more to prove?

Besides we have some university students who ran a few pods for about 100 meters in a partial vacuum tube.

I am sold.

you sure give up easy looking for information or you just want to pretend you know what's going on when you don't and finding the information would be against your world view.

Try watching the city council meetings with presentations, Q&A sessions, and data. Try looking at the posted maps. But yep there is a bunch of funny videos and memes too if you are too lazy to look past those.

Boring Company tunnel presentation before Hawthorne City Council - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAZBDVx1_Lk

FAQ - https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/
Media - https://www.boringcompany.com/media/

there is more but I'm not going to do a research essay just because you give up at the first animation you see.

 

[Electroman]

I am just wondering if how the first commercial Maglev public transportation came to fruition in Japan. I am sure they didn't stop with presentations and maps, but actually had a test track several miles long, demonstrated that to various committees before they were approved to go on public land for a public project.

Heck I am wondering why did Elon even do a full demo of Falcon Heavy launch.

Question for dhanson: Where is the test track for hyperloop or car skates? I searched and didn't find any videos that might even remotely resemble the final DC-NY project?

 

[dhanson865]

Question for dhanson: Where is the test track for hyperloop or car skates? I searched and didn't find any videos that might even remotely resemble the final DC-NY project?

are you that bad at using google? Do you have no clue what is being done with loop, hyperloop, boring company?

This is the last response you'll get from me I'm tired of doing unpaid research for you.

There is a one-mile test track built by SpaceX adjacent to Hawthorne, its California headquarters. It is above ground and can pull a vacuum but they also test in it at normal pressure. It was what proved the concept enough for Elon to move to the 2 mile test tunnel.

There is a tunnel at Fremont with a car elevator in place that will be 2 miles long for the first test phase. Elon Musk teases image of a Tesla Model S inside The Boring Co. tunnel Tests done in the 2 mile section will be presented to the municipalities as proof of concept for extending the tunnel(s) under major cities.

They are seeking rights to extend that 2 mile tunnel to 6.5 miles to prove the concept further.

The company stresses in the caption for the map that the initial routes are a “concept,” not “a finalized alignment.” The part highlighted in red represents a 6.5-mile stretch that the company wants to use as a “proof-of-concept” tunnel. There, it would perform verification tests of all the necessary systems, like the car sleds that will whisk riders to their destination, but also the equipment and processes being used to build the tunnels in the first place. The company calls this the “Phase 1” section of the tunnel, and says it won’t be used by the public until it is “deemed successful by County government, City government, and The Boring Company.”

You can be sure that until phase 1 in California gets to a usable 6.5 mile section nothing will be done at the other sites that they aren't darn sure won't be wasted effort. Still if you have a contract in hand or expect one, starting on a super long tunnel requires a lot of work before you dig. I'm sure they are just setting up the other sites waiting for stage 1 to complete in CA.

As to hyperloop:

There are third party businesses testing hyperloop tracks and pods above ground in other locations. Hyperloop is open source style and any design they make would be shared back such that boring company, tesla, spacex can use it. Hyperloop is way down the road, not even a concern for the tunnels. If you want to see where those companies are testing you'll have to look at:

• 3.1 Virgin Hyperloop One (Hyperloop One had its first full-system test of ultrafast transportation system - has a track in Nevada)
• 3.2 Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (working on projects in multiple countries)
• 3.3 TransPod
• 3.4 DGWHyperloop
• 3.5 Arrivo
• 3.6 Hardt Global Mobility
• 3.7 Hyper Chariot
• 3.8 Zeleros

I'm not going to bother to look for test tracks for every possible hyperloop engineering group or company.

this is rapid prototyping and open source scaled up and going to anywhere that wants it on Earth and then going to Mars. You can nay say it all you want but people aren't sitting around. Projects are being signed in major cities in the US, between major cities in the US, and similar in other countries.