On Thursday, Maryland officials gave Elon Musk's Boring Company permission to dig a 10.1-mile tunnel "beneath the state-owned portion of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, between the Baltimore city line and Maryland 175 in Hanover," according to the Baltimore Sun.
According to Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn, The Boring Company (which Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk founded to advance tunneling technology) wants to build two 35-mile tunnels between Baltimore and Washington, DC. The federal government owns about two-thirds of the land that Musk's company would need to dig underneath. As of Friday, it was unclear whether that permission had been granted. (A Department of Transportation spokeswoman told Ars that the land in question was owned by the National Park Service, which did not immediately respond to request for comment.)
I would wager his application for the actual projects are pending proof of concept. So, in very much Musk fashion, he shall 'Do' instead of 'Say'. Actions speaking louder than words.
Most of you are too young to remember the old pneumatic tubes that used to be used to quickly move cylinders containing paperwork and small items between locations (I've actually used them "back in the day"; dang, I'm really feeling old now) but this system of Musk's is very similar but scaled in size for carrying passengers. The three primary advantages of going deep underground is, first, the route doesn't have to remove existing buildings, etc. to be built. The route can a fairly straight shot, unlike surface freeways that have to twist and turn between surface obstructions, such as buildings, hills, etc.
The second advantage is 3D construction. Tunnels can pass over one another with no need for time delaying intersection or additional infrastructure, such as bridges.
The third makes it easier to achieve higher speeds more easily than can be done using surface streets or rails due to the lack of numerous, drastic turns, and due to reduced air resistance in the tunnels achieved by pumping the air out ahead of the passenger and cargo pods traveling through the tunnels.
This is more than just a "pipe dream" for Musk. He has already started construction of a tunnel in Los Angeles, CA. He has already been working with above ground versions of his "pneumatic tube" hyperloop system as a proof of concept.
I'm not an engineer so I'm not going to know all the details but I'm sure Musk and/or people working for him, have worked out all those pesky details. My guess is you aren't thinking deep enough. Some of the tunnels for the New York Subway System go as deep as 180 feet.
I'm not an engineer so I'm not going to know all the details but I'm sure Musk and/or people working for him, have worked out all those pesky details. My guess is you aren't thinking deep enough. Some of the tunnels for the New York Subway System go as deep as 180 feet.
yes but pre-installed tunnels can't be adjusted to go deeper, e.g. if the tunnels was sloped then certain points would be less than 180feet deep.
so building skyscrapers on the shallower tunnels could potentially affect the tunnels, i mean pile driving deep foundations is a mandatory requirement for tall structures and they can go more than 100feet deep.
speaking of subways, how does New York's building policies work about deep foundations? this could probably answer my question.
It's not his personal money. It's a company. But new media when ever they see a company Musk founded or is anyhow connected to they have to say Mush this Mush that instead of using the company name.
Maybe he did not like the Friday afternoon traffic between BWI and DC. Congress would would like that. They like getting out of town quickly to the airport. Got stuck in that a few times going from Ft. McNair to FT Mead.
I'm not an engineer so I'm not going to know all the details but I'm sure Musk and/or people working for him, have worked out all those pesky details. My guess is you aren't thinking deep enough. Some of the tunnels for the New York Subway System go as deep as 180 feet.
yes but pre-installed tunnels can't be adjusted to go deeper, e.g. if the tunnels was sloped then certain points would be less than 180feet deep.
so building skyscrapers on the shallower tunnels could potentially affect the tunnels, i mean pile driving deep foundations is a mandatory requirement for tall structures and they can go more than 100feet deep.
speaking of subways, how does New York's building policies work about deep foundations? this could probably answer my question.
Still sounds like some super fancy and expensive rich guy private subway to me. Wouldn't it be cheaper to build some elevated, isolated autobahn type road for autopilot electric cars only? Then you could just switch back to manual when you got out of it and drive to your valet parking six blocks away. It would be much easier to let the public go for fancy taxi or limo rides on that and the autopilot could be controlled by a central computer so traffic would run at peak speeds and density.
But my idea would be a total waste of money too.
Still sounds like some super fancy and expensive rich guy private subway to me. Wouldn't it be cheaper to build some elevated, isolated autobahn type road for autopilot electric cars only? Then you could just switch back to manual when you got out of it and drive to your valet parking six blocks away. It would be much easier to let the public go for fancy taxi or limo rides on that and the autopilot could be controlled by a central computer so traffic would run at peak speeds and density.
But my idea would be a total waste of money too.
Roads on the surface need space, they change the look of the area, noise levels increase...
Imagine having an elevated highway next to your window all of a sudden
There are plenty of tall buildings with foundations built on top, or around the vicinity of subway systems around the world. Assuming this tunnel is supported by steel or reinforced concrete, and tunneled through limestone, it would take a sizeable earthquake or explosion to damage the tunnel.
There are plenty of tall buildings with foundations built on top, or around the vicinity of subway systems around the world. Assuming this tunnel is supported by steel or reinforced concrete, and tunneled through limestone, it would take a sizeable earthquake or explosion to damage the tunnel.
its not exactly the same though, its like trying to hammer in a nail through an object, no matter how strong that object is the nail can still deal some damage or even penetrate it.
deep foundations are like that, they're pile-driven straight down and can even penetrate hard bedrocks to act as a strong footing, simply put they're very long nails to keep a tall building from toppling over.
i've already got a fair answer though, the way they seem to do it is to entirely evade pile-driving right on top of those tunnels, they simply form a thick slab to act as a mat foundation, and pile-drive around it instead.
pile-driving is still required in this case, since its relied on to resist lateral loads from toppling the building, and in the case of a tunnel running beneath it the stress can affect the tunnel if the piles are too shallow.
I liked it better when the plan was to build the hyperloops above existing road/railways. Maybe not as efficient for the distance but should have been less hurdles, expense, and time to build.
Also remember he thinks SpaceX's new BFR rocket will be cheap enough to do site to site transport on earth. I don't think you're going to be building rocket launch sites in the middle of cities, so something like these tunnels to get to the launch sites from populated areas would be perfect.
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