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Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

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Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#21

Post by asendra »

imron wrote: post #8
thecolorblue wrote: post #4

This is a good idea, and I like to watch Elon be ambitious, but it's probably pretty annoying to work at SpaceX right now. One day you show up to work and, where you used to park your car, there is a giant hole in the ground. It's there because the CEO of the company you work for, who is already splitting his time between two companies, wants to put some of his energy towards a third unrelated company. You are spendi…

> You are spending your time getting things into space and your CEO is literally heading in the opposite direction. On the other hand, boring technology is almost certainly going to play a key role in the colonisation of Mars.

And solar panels. And electric vehicles..

Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#22

Post by AYBABTME »

adamjc wrote: post #2

I thought the current thinking was that building more roads means that there will be more roads to use, and therefore more cars on the road. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand

Tunnels will be required on Mars to shield from radiation. Getting a head start on the technology while on Earth only makes sense. Pretty much everything he plans is in perspective of having a dual use: will it be needed on Mars - SpaceX's true goal? I hate to say the word but, it's all about synergies.

Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#23

Post by throwanem »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #16
aaron-lebo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The DFW area has built 90+ miles of light rail in the last 20 years (that's just under the total amount for the Bay Area which had older systems), and it is still expanding. It's not my impression that light rail is done having regularly used the system

Chomsky complains that catching a train from Boston to New York is not any faster than it was for him in the 50's; I'm not expert on US rail but it does seem to be behind if you compare to Europe and Asia's high speed rail networks.

He must've been writing before the Acela Express made its debut. But Boston and New York are close enough that I'd argue true high-speed rail isn't all that much needed.

Which is good, because there's no way in hell our government-supported passenger rail monopoly could ever implement it. That's half the problem right there - nobody can compete with Amtrak because Amtrak can undercut everyone, so Amtrak's service can suck as much as it likes.

(Which is not all that much, in the Northeast Corridor! What we have there may not be super fast, but it is reliable and comfortable. Everywhere else in the US seems a different story.)

Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#24

Post by Robotbeat »

thecolorblue wrote: post #4

This is a good idea, and I like to watch Elon be ambitious, but it's probably pretty annoying to work at SpaceX right now. One day you show up to work and, where you used to park your car, there is a giant hole in the ground. It's there because the CEO of the company you work for, who is already splitting his time between two companies, wants to put some of his energy towards a third unrelated company. You are spendi…

Not at all. The reason for wanting a tunnel at SpaceX headquarters specifically is to help the employees access their parking structures without being run over crossing the street: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2016/12/30/video-3-spacex-employ...

"A news report about three SpaceX employees who were hit by a car on Dec. 17 after leaving work. The incident occurred at 2:15 a.m. About three hours later, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted the following Tweets:

@elonmusk Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging..."

Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#25

Post by wolfram74 »

asendra wrote: post #21
imron wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You are spending your time getting things into space and your CEO is literally heading in the opposite direction. On the other hand, boring technology is almost certainly going to play a key role in the colonisation of Mars.

And solar panels. And electric vehicles..

Note though that solar panels are half as effective on mars given it's distance to the sun, nuclear is even more important on Mars than on Earth.

Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#26

Post by metafex »

This is just a wild guess, but could there be more to it than just solving traffic problems? I mean, the best solution for a permanent settlement on Mars would be underground, as to shield from radiation etc. It's a funny thought, but it would make sense to aquire experience with large earth-moving operations to improve on the technology and study the feasibility.

Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#27

Post by RichardHeart »

adamjc wrote: post #2

I thought the current thinking was that building more roads means that there will be more roads to use, and therefore more cars on the road. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand

If you move into a bigger house, your hallways will not fill up with more traffic. Currently humans are required at least 1 per car. Thus the housing and employment of those humans is more of a limiting factor on road demand, or perhaps car ownership or desire to drive somewhere, more so than availability of roads.

Re: Elon Musk is boring a tunnel to skirt gridlock

#28

Post by antihero »

throwanem wrote: post #3

Light rail solves urban congestion, too, and a city that doesn't already have a subway isn't all that likely also to be so densely involute that rights of way can't be secured for the trackage. Elevated electric trams are a thing, too, and require a much smaller ground footprint. Not that I don't get what he's saying, and I do get that existing and well proven systems aren't sexy, but I feel like either of those is g…

I think light rail is fantastic - in London we have the DLR which is fully automated (there is an assistant onboard who can override), and it's a thoroughly pleasant experience. We fondly call it the smallest rollercoaster :)
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