Elon Musk had a dream to quell the traffic congestion problems of LA. That dream turned into a viable solution that took the shape of multiple underground hyperloop tunnels. These would take people out of their cars carrying them 2.7 miles across the city of LA.
Hyperloop Grounds to a Halt
Today the plans for the tunnel ground to a halt after a group challenged the project, taking Musk’s Boring Company to court.
But what was the objection?
The Boring Company received a preliminary exemption of California’s environmental review process and was allowed to begin construction on the ‘Sepulveda Boulevard’ tunnel. This tunnel was the proof-of-concept tunnel the company would use to improve later hyperloop tunnels.
It was the ‘test tunnel’ if you will.
Hyperloop Lawsuit
However, a group of residents from the Westside area filed an environmental lawsuit claiming the project violated state law.
They claimed that this section of the hyperloop formed only one part of a much larger project. California law states that the entirety of the project must be taken under environmental review and can’t “be evaded by chopping large projects into smaller pieces that taken individually appear to have no significant environmental impacts.”
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So it seems that Musk’s Boring Company may have been looking for a hyper-loophole around this project’s environmental issues.
Settlement
The parties made a settlement outside of court. Musk’s company has now announced, “it is no longer seeking the development of the Sepulveda test tunnel and instead seeks to construct an operational tunnel at Dodger Stadium.“
But it seems, moving forward, that focus will be on the Dodger Stadium project. This hyperloop hopes to connect a Metro Subway station to the Dodgers baseball stadium via a 3.6-mile tunnel.
Featured Image: Depositphotos /© malpetr
