Elon Musk's LA tunnel will go from his house to his office

Elon Musk’s plan to dig a tunnel beneath LA could vastly improve the daily commute for thousands of people in the city.

And, it’s likely no one will benefit more than Musk himself.

The project is expected to run from Westwood to LAX – passing right by both the SpaceX headquarters and Musk’s Bel Air properties, according to Fast Company.

The starting point sits near the SpaceX headquarters because the company owns the land, and could immediately begin digging there, a spokesperson said. Musk also owns $70 million worth of property nearby in Bel Air – with five homes all within walking distance of each other

BORING COMPANY

Elon Musk has outlined how his Boring Company will work, claiming:

Tunnelling costs must be reduced by a factor of more than 10

Key to this is smaller tunnels that can be dug more quickly

Will work to increase the speed of the Tunnel Boring Machine

Envisions a new breed of smaller, more powerful boring machines, with triple the power of current devices, that can tunnel continuously

Musk was vocal about his disdain for LA’s notorious traffic at the start of the project, which he launched in effort to solve the ongoing problem.

The tunnel could cut the hour-long trip down to just six minutes.

Just days ago, the Boring Co applied to build the second segment of the tunnel.

While the ambitious plan has begun to come to life in a relatively short period after it was first devised, there have been numerous hurdles along the way – and there will likely be more.

One such hurdle is permission.

It might seem strategic that the project aligns with Musk’s Bel Air properties, but the firm says this has nothing to do with its location.

Instead, the starting point sits near the SpaceX headquarters because the company owns the land, and could immediately begin digging there, a spokesperson told Fast Company.

Musk also owns $70 million worth of property nearby in Bel Air – with five homes all within walking distance of each other.

The project is expected to run from Westwood to LAX – passing right by both the SpaceX headquarters and Musk’s Bel Air properties (circled). Musk owns 5 homes in Bel Air

Astounding aerial photos have laid bare the sprawling, eco-friendly compound Elon Musk has built up.

The tech tycoon’s home is flanked with solar panels, and is one of five properties he owns in the lavish neighborhood.

Musk has reportedly spent $70.3 million on the set of palatial homes, according to Variety.

While many derided his plan to build a traffic tunnel under LA, Musk appears to be steadily moving forward.

This home owned by Elon Musk in Bel Air was purchased for $17 million in 2012 (top right on map)

This home was owned by Gene Wilder and was purchased for $6.75 million and was converted into a private school (in long right oval on map next to the newest home)

The Tesla and SpaceX boss hopes to build a tunnel along the route of the notoriously gridlocked 405, past LAX.

His Boring Co. has applied for an excavation permit to extend its electric-vehicle tunnel in Hawthorne into Los Angeles, connecting the South Bay, Westside and San Fernando Valley, city officials said, according to Daily Breeze.

Although the city’s Bureau of Engineering did not release details of the permit request, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has supported the plan.

The Tesla billionaire also purchased this home in the Bel Air neighborhood (smallest circle on the left on map)

Elon Musk owns this Bel Air home along with his other Bel Air properties (located on the bottom left portion of the map)

The application is consistent with Musk’s announcement in an October tweet that he planned to extend the tunnel ‘from LAX to the 101.’

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti expressed early support for the idea.

‘Los Angeles has always been a place where innovators come to build new ideas that can change how we live our lives,’ Garcetti tweeted.

‘We look forward to continuing our conversations about this new transportation technology, and exploring the ways that it can help us build a better future for our city.’

Elon Musk recently shared a photo of the traffic-busting tunnel that will allow Los Angeles commuters to zip under the city at 150mph (240kph). The 150-metre (500ft) shaft ‘should be 2 miles [3.2km] long in three or four months’, he said

Earlier this month Elon Musk shared the first ever photo of the traffic-busting tunnel that will allowLos Angeles commuters to travel under the city at 150mph (240kph).

The 150-metre (500ft) shaft, excavated by the billionaire’s tunnel-digging firm The Boring Company, ‘should be 2 miles [3.2km] long in three or four months’, he said.

SpaceX has also previously received the green light to extend the tunnel by 2 miles in Hawthorne toward the Los Angeles International Airport.

Last month, Musk said that the new section of the tunnel would be completed in ‘3 to 4 months’:

The SpaceX and Tesla founder came up with the idea for the tunnelling firm while frustrated at being stuck in heavy LA traffic.

He plans to build a series of tunnels underneath the city that could ferry cars in pods on ‘electric skates’ to avoid LA’s notoriously busy roads.

An Arial view of heavy traffic moves along Interstate 405 highway in Los Angeles, Musk hopes people will soon be able to take his tunnel instead

We have known for months that Musk’s Boring Company has been testing its equipment beneath SpaceX’s LA headquarters.

But this is the first image he has shared of what appears to be a completed underground system since the firm was granted permission in August to dig under public roads around campus for a 2-mile tunnel stretching from the lot near Crenshaw Boulevard west along 120th Street.

In response to a user asking how long the tunnel is, Musk tweeted: ‘500 ft so far. Should be 2 miles long in three or four months and hopefully stretch the whole 405 N-S corridor from LAX to the 101 in a year or so.’

As well as new images of his initial tunnel, Musk also laid out where the track would run under the city (pictured). The SpaceX and Tesla founder came up with the idea for the tunnelling firm while frustrated at being stuck in heavy LA traffic

In a comment on Instagram, the billionaire gave more detail on where the track would run and how it would operate

On Instagram, the billionaire gave more detail on where the track would run and how it would operate.

‘First route will go roughly parallel to the 405 from LAX to [Highway] 101, with on/offramps every mile or so,’ he wrote.

‘It will work like a fast freeway, where electric skates carrying vehicles and people pods on the main artery travel at up to 150mph [240 kph], and the skates switch to side tunnels to exit and enter.

‘This is a big difference compared to subways that stop at every stop, whether you’re getting off or not.’

THE BORING COMPANY’S TUNNEL

In August, it was reported that Elon Musk’s firm would build a two-mile-long test tunnel in Los Angeles, after the City Council voted four to one in favour of his ambitious plans.

The extension will run 13.5 metres (44 feet) under public roads around the SpaceX headquarters, and is the first time the Boring Company has been allowed to dig outside it’s property line.

This dry run will make sure plans actually work – if it doesn’t, the city can request the tunnel is filled with concrete or soil.

‘They won’t even know we’re there’, Brett Horton, senior director of facilities and construction at SpaceX assured members of the council.

‘This is groundbreaking, this is establishing a precedent, and I think we all agree that we want to make sure that this goes off without a hitch,’ Hawthorne’s Mayor Alex Vargas said.

The company assured citizens that if the soil moves by as little as half an inch, work will stop immediately.

Earlier this year, the Boring Company’s first tunnel-digging machine, called ‘Godot’ (pictured), began digging test tunnels under LA

Musk has since posted his plans to Instagram: ‘First route will go roughly parallel to the 405 from LAX to [Highway] 101, with on/offramps every mile or so,’ he wrote in October.

‘This is a big difference compared to subways that stop at every stop, whether you’re getting off or not.’

Since he first announced plans to dig a tunnel under LA last December, Musk has regularly updated fans with his Boring Company’s progress via social media.

Previously, the technology mogul tweeted that the firm’s second tunnel digging machine was on its way.

‘Second boring machine almost ready. ‘Will be called Line-Storm, after the poem by Frost’ he tweeted.

The billionaire also brought attention to the Frost’s line ‘and be my love in the rain’ in his post.

The tech boss took to social media in August to share progress on his traffic-beating tunnel beneath Los Angeles, revealing it is now big enough to fit a Tesla Model S. Pictured is a test tunnel

MUSK’S ‘BORING’ PLAN

When Musk first announced his plans to bore a tunnel to his SpaceX offices in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he was simply venting his frustrations about being stuck in traffic.

‘Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging…’, he tweeted in December last year.

He ended his rant on the social media site with: ‘I am actually going to do this’.

The billionaire first tweeted a picture of his firm’s boring machine back in February with the caption ‘Minecraft’ – a reference to the popular video game in which players dig large tunnel networks for resources.

Many have speculated that Musk will use his Boring Company to build tunnels for Hyperloop transportation systems – either for other firms or his own venture.

When he first revealed the plan in a white paper developed with his team at SpaceX, in 2012, he said he would let others build the system.

‘I don’t have any plan to execute because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla,’ he said in a conference call at the time.

But in August it appeared Musk would build his own hyperloop tunnel system in a bid to speed up adoption of the radical travel technology he invented.

According to reports from a ‘person close to Musk,’ it appears the billionaire will build the whole system himself.

Musk also hinted at it, replying to a tweet about the issues facing the various Hyperloop plans by saying ‘I guess a proof of concept is needed.’

When Musk first announced his plans to bore a tunnel to his SpaceX offices in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he was joking

This led some to speculate that his latest machine will be designed for all-weather operation.

The firm’s ‘Godot’ machine was named after Samuel Beckett’s famous play ‘Waiting for Godot.’

The news came just two months after the firm first got permission to dig outside of its own property.

In August, it was reported that Musk’s firm would build a two-mile-long test tunnel in Los Angeles, after the City Council voted four to one in favour of his ambitious plans.