Elon Musk continues to try to create a project involving tunnels linking cities or continents. For years, overcrowded streets and sweltering heat have plagued Dubai’s rapid expansion. Authorities have pushed metro extensions, buses, and cars, but traffic remains a constant strain. As megacities seek innovative solutions, underground transit has emerged as a bold frontier, with one company already operating a tunnel loop beneath Las Vegas. Now, this will happen in another country overseas.
The financial challenges of these projects
Elon Musk already tried to create a highway between Texas and California with thousands of recharging stations for Tesla’s electric vehicles, but it never got funded by the government. These types of projects take time, and more money than a company can spend in a project. That’s why it relies on outside funding, to have the monetary power working along with other companies, institutes, or the government, pushing for a specific project to be successful.
This increases the chances of a bold move happening. The SpaceX founder is also suggested the creation of a tunnel linking a couple of cities in Texas, where the Tesla Gigafactory and other companies owned by him are based. The businessman also created a project to link New York to London in an underwater tunnel, which is not physically possible due to the ocean floor pressure. Now, he’s on to something in Dubai, and can finally make his dreams of creating tunnels something real.
Elon Musk is trying to build a tunnel network in Dubai
In February, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority to build a 10.5-mile tunnel system under the city. The first phase will have 11 stations and aims to carry around 20,000 passengers per hour. According to the company, this could later expand to 100,000 passengers per hour.
For now, there’s no set date for the project to start. If it moves forward, it would be the company’s second tunnel system. So far, The Boring Company only operates in Las Vegas. There, a small loop under the Convention Center moves passengers in Tesla cars at about 40 miles per hour through 1.8 miles of tunnels.
This is far from Musk’s original Hyperloop idea. In 2013, he imagined people moving inside tubes at speeds close to 760 miles per hour. The Boring Company started in 2017, after the inventor said LA traffic made him want to build tunnels himself.
Las Vegas’ tunnel measure
In Las Vegas, the company plans to extend the current system to 68 miles, but work has faced setbacks. At one point, the city’s monorail was shut down when digging came too close to its support structures. The company is led by Steve Davis, a longtime Musk associate. He also works with DOGE, the new department Musk created to push for budget cuts in the US federal government.
This could be an inspiration for big cities to have underground tunnels to help drivers to go from point A to point B faster, wasting less time in traffic and more time doing other activities – the exact thing he’s trying to do in Texas, but the goal is to connect two cities.
Other tunnel-related projects in Texas
Most of Musk’s companies are now based near Austin, Texas, and their presence in the area is expected to grow in the coming months. One project is the new headquarters for his social media platform, X. The building is under construction in Bastrop County, about 45 minutes from downtown Austin.
Nearby, SpaceX is planning to triple its size and operations. But it’s with Snailbrook and the Hyperloop, the bigger plans moving forward. While Tesla struggles to advance its Robotaxi program, and a future test would involve a tunnel connecting Austin to San Antonio.
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