Elon Musk’s “Loop” to open in December underneath California city

Written by: Tanner White, staff writer

Elon Musk has a new invention, and instead of going up, he went down. His new project, Loop, a two-mile prototype tunnel underneath the city of Hawthorne. He has said that the Loop will be opening to the public in December for test rides, per the U.K. Telegraph. This is a prototype, however. Musk wants to be able to expand this project nationally, and even globally. He even wants to make it better and faster, going to speeds up to 700 mph.

The tunnel will be opening on December 10, with “free rides for the public” on December 11 according to Musk himself, per the U.K. Telegraph. This tunnel goes underneath Crenshaw Boulevard and 120th Street; almost two miles. The Loop will be able to travel at speeds from 125-150 mph.

Musk started this tunnel due to complaints about Los Angeles traffic on Twitter. He has stated that he would love to build more underground tunnels in the future, especially in LA and other big cities. His irritation of bumper-to-bumper traffic created the idea of an underground, high-speed transit project. His company, the Boring Company, is very confident that they will be able to create a bigger and underground tunnel in the future.

The public, as of right now, has not said much yet. More public reviews will come out once the tunnel opens in December. The talk right now is about if it’s really going to work, and if it will open in December. Some people are skeptical about this project, but Musk and the Boring Company have both come out and said that the tunnel will open on December 10, 2018.

Los Angeles traffic has a tendency to be horrible, but Musk thinks and hopes that this tunnel will be able to relieve some of the pressure off of traffic now and in the future. The construction does take a decent amount of time to complete, but could very well be a good alternative to sitting in traffic for hours, wasting gas, and being late to work.

Tanner White is a sophomore communications major with an emphasis in digital media. He enjoys baseball and long walks to the fridge.