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Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

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Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#111

Post by sjg007 »

crysin wrote: post #88
readhn wrote: post #57

well, im not sure where this tunnel would be located BUT if he was digging under my $500,000-1,000,000 residential house (or whatever the prices there are) or my commercial property i sure as hell would sue the billionaire all the way to the bank as well. For him its just "playing games" oh let me dig a tunnel so i can skip the traffic on MY way to work. For me - its my livelihood - house is a single biggest purchase…

Why would you live in a place where people have to approve what you want to do with your property?

Good luck, you basically can't live anywhere in the USA without some zoning regulation at a minimum.

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#112

Post by wyldfire »

pj_mukh wrote: post #105
wyldfire wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet development should take the environment into consideration because it can have massive consequences. Those consequences are ultimately an externality of the development project and evaluating it in advance can help inform the true financials of the project.

Oddly enough, currently the opposite is true. All the construction blocks being put up sometimes in the name of environmental assessment are pushing people out of dense areas and into sprawling suburbs, with people taking on huge commutes to get to work. Where is the environmental assessment on NIMBY-ism I wonder? :/

I've read articles that talk about that debate. Indeed, I tend to agree that development to support denser population is often an environmental net win over the immediate local environmental impacts, but I suppose it should be case-by-case.

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#113

Post by carlivar »

choxi wrote: post #56
traditionalist wrote: post #10

Why doesn't Musk take his business elsewhere where he's welcome? I can imagine LA being a nightmare for this sort of project. He needs a place where bureaucracy is thinner and people are actually excited about everything new.

He's building us an express loop in Chicago: https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/ They're even paying for the whole thing, I think most residents here are excited about it.

Musk says a lot of things. He is really amazing at getting press attention for himself. Ask Buffalo how Musk promises regarding the solar roof factory have gone so far...

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#114

Post by [deleted] »

ihuman wrote: post #98
choxi wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's building us an express loop in Chicago: https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/ They're even paying for the whole thing, I think most residents here are excited about it.

The Boring company also plans to build a loop from DC to Baltimore, and it will also be self-funded. https://www.boringcompany.com/eastcoast/

[deleted]

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#115

Post by jimmy1 »

mikeash wrote: post #93
jimmy1 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me crazy, but as an outsider looking in with attachment to California (many friends moved from there, brother's wife from there, I visit often), isn't part of their empowerment of NIMBY's out of fear that if they don't empower them they will straight up leave? Owning a home in California close to any of the economic centers sounds like one of the hardest endeavors one could embark upon, I imagine if you don't gi…

California's insane housing prices (at least near the aforementioned economic centers) indicates that people are clamoring to move there. If you drive people away, more will replace them, possibly after causing prices to drop somewhat.

To me it indicates much more than that: high taxes, high regulatory fees, high cost of labor. The median cost per square foot for a home in California is $319 dollars, the median cost per square foot for the entire U.S is $151. The median home price in California is $379,000, and the U.S. is $225,000. One only needs to do a simple web search to see the current migration from California's tech centers to other tech destinations such as Austin, for example (note in my previous comment I said more people will leave, people are already leaving)

>If you drive people away, more will replace them

There is no data to support this hypothesis, however, in this case. The facts are California housing is expensive, and there are not enough jobs at those wages to support the expensive houses.

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#116

Post by carlivar »

erikig wrote: post #38
jbaczuk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question, I imagine because you need the big city, the traffic volume, and potential users to justify the cost of doing such a big project.

The Boring Co isn’t giving up on LA entirely. This was just one test tunnel. They have already succeeded on their other 2 mile test tunnel (Dodger Stadium) and are working to extend that.

The tunnel initial capacity will be 1400 people per day and maybe 2800 later. This is 3% of average game attendance.

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dodger-stadium-...

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#117

Post by spamizbad »

choxi wrote: post #56
traditionalist wrote: post #10

Why doesn't Musk take his business elsewhere where he's welcome? I can imagine LA being a nightmare for this sort of project. He needs a place where bureaucracy is thinner and people are actually excited about everything new.

He's building us an express loop in Chicago: https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/ They're even paying for the whole thing, I think most residents here are excited about it.

Speaking as a Chicago resident, I don't think there's much enthusiasm (or opposition) for the project. It's not the kind of thing you'd take if you lived in the city: after all, it's a $25 express ride from the airport to the Loop. Most Chicagoans live out in the neighborhoods.

One thing that kinda shocked me was how limited its capacity was. The Blue Line "L" train actually has something like 10x the throughput despite being extremely slow (45 minutes vs 12). I don't know if that's a design limitation of the technology or if that's all the demand they anticipated. It makes me worried it's not scalable.

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#118

Post by rripken »

leesec wrote: post #66
readhn wrote: post #57

well, im not sure where this tunnel would be located BUT if he was digging under my $500,000-1,000,000 residential house (or whatever the prices there are) or my commercial property i sure as hell would sue the billionaire all the way to the bank as well. For him its just "playing games" oh let me dig a tunnel so i can skip the traffic on MY way to work. For me - its my livelihood - house is a single biggest purchase…

The tunnels will not impact the people above them, you won't even notice them being dug if they were directly beneath you.

Unless you want to build a different tunnel or a basement, parking garage, ground source heat sink...

Re: Boring Co. Drops LA Westside Tunnel Plan

#120

Post by rripken »

cdelsolar wrote: post #68
readhn wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would you be ok with tunnel being built under YOUR house (that you own and worked/will be working for for the rest of your life) without consulting with you FIRST?

yes? i don't own the prismatic wedge of land that extends all the way to the core of the Earth afaik

Why wouldn't you?
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