Elon Musk Says His L.A. Traffic-Beating Underground Tunnel Is Almost Done
*By Carlo Versano*
Elon Musk's Boring Company will unveil its first completed segment of tunnel under Los Angeles on December 10, the CEO [said](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1054164543922823168) in a series of late-night tweets Sunday.
The Hawthorne Tunnel, named for the area near LAX and SpaceX headquarters, is a "loop" that Musk envisions can carry cars, cyclists, and pedestrians on a platform at speeds up to 155 mph.
He tweeted that the Dec. 10 event would be followed by free rides to the public the following day. The Boring Company has proposed a fare of $1 per passenger to take the loop under L.A.
The Boring Company may have begun as a joke, but Musk now envisions it will solve traffic problems in urban areas with high-speed underground tunnels that use autonomous "skates" to move single vehicles and groups of commuters at speeds higher than would be allowed on expressways (though still not as fast as his Hyperloop concept, in which people would move as fast as 600 mph inside pods for longer distances inside a vacuum-sealed tube).
In addition to the L.A. tunnel, the company has a contract with the city of Chicago to build a similar loop to O'Hare and is in the planning stages for a loop between Washington D.C. and Baltimore. It's also proposing a loop from west L.A. to Dodger Stadium.
Musk, who has made a [habit] (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/business/elon-musk-interview-tesla.html) of tweeting promises he wasn't able to keep, responded to a user who [asked](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1054164838430064640) whether the Dec. 10 schedule was "in real time or Elon time."
"I think real," he wrote.
President Donald Trump wants his “big, beautiful” bill of tax breaks and spending cuts on his desk to be singed into law by Independence Day. And he’s pushing the slow-rolling Senate to make it happen sooner rather than later. Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the White House early this week and has been dialing senators for one-on-one chats, using both the carrot and stick to encourage them to act. But it’s still a long road ahead for the bill. Senators want to make changes to protect Medicaid and to make sure some tax breaks become permanent. Elon Musk called the whole bill a "disgusting abomination.”
For Novak Djokovic, this is a relatively easy call. He thinks the French Open is making a mistake by eschewing the electronic line-calling used at most big tennis tournaments and instead remaining old school by letting line judges decide whether serves or other shots land in or out.
