5 ms·

Elon Musk’s Boring Company Gets Preliminary Permit for NYC-DC Hyperloop

81 points by vinnyglennon 9y ago

kingbirdy 9y ago
It looks like this permit is only for a small location, would this be the station?
- Nrbelex 9y ago
  >Asked about the permit, issued Nov. 29, a Boring Company spokesman said Friday that “a New York Avenue location, if constructed, could become a station” in a broad network of such stops across the new system. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/dc-has-given-elon-musk-a-permit-to-do-a-little-digging-for-the-hyperloop/2018/02/16/ee8d2f08-1359-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html?utm_term=.2ae28b93aabf https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/dc-...
  - lafar6502 9y ago
    What permit? Permit to do what? Does anyone have control over these guys, or is it just money talking? I don’t care about their junk in space, but here on Earth there are some forms of life that don’t appreciate such arrogance and would like to understand why government is in bed with Musk and who is going to benefit from that
    - etskinner 9y ago
      I think many people stand to benefit from a NYC-DC transport link, and the economies of those cities stand to benefit a lot too.
    - Jesus_Jones 9y ago
      geeze. people get permits to dig holes in the ground for private companies all the time, like say buildings? It's not that special.
      - lafar6502 9y ago
        Right, but here the goal is not to dig a hole in their parking. The goal is to go to bed with politicians to get approval and public funding for big private infrastructure, without asking the public at all
- venning 9y ago
  That's a few blocks from a Metro stop, but really a terrible place for any kind of real foot traffic. That's near a high-traffic intersection [1] that can be difficult to navigate by car and very slow to navigate by foot. It's also near a lot of new construction (like most of DC) geared mostly towards young, rich professionals (like most of new DC). [1] The intersection was changed a few years ago from insanely dangerous to safe but very indirect when trying to make certain transitions.
  - bdamm 9y ago
    I thought The Boring Company was going after shuttles that carried cars with people inside, not just people. If indeed that is their plan then foot distance to a metro is not going to matter for them.
Nrbelex 9y ago
This headline is bordering on inaccurate. As described by the original Washington Post article: > The Boring Company team has received an early, and vague, building permit from the D.C. government that will allow some preparatory and excavation work at the fenced-off parking lot at 53 New York Avenue NE beside a McDonald’s and amid the construction cranes of Washington’s booming NoMa neighborhood.
ucaetano 9y ago
Translation: Boring Company gets permit to dig hole in a private parking lot.
osswid 9y ago
A previous genius industrialist - Isambard Kingdom Brunel - built an "atmospheric railway" in 1844. https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/apr/04/brunels-atmospheric-railway-history-technology- https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/apr/04/b...
krazydad 9y ago
Their work actually sounds pretty exciting to me.
- bdamm 9y ago
  That's the joke.
- geezerjay 9y ago
  > Their work actually sounds pretty exciting to me. Why? They are nothing more than a off-the-shelf boring machine that was never used and a marketing department dedicated to fabricate hype.
  - BenjiWiebe 9y ago
    The reason I'm excited is because at one point SpaceX was all hype too. :)
criddell 9y ago
Is the ground around DC dry enough for a tunneling machine like Musk has? I've always thought of that part of the country as being very wet.
- bane 9y ago
  It is both wet and generally fine for tunneling. The D.C. metro (subway) is almost entirely underground within D.C. city limits (though it runs mostly above ground outside of the city) and basements and extensive underground parking garages are the norm (some going very deep). The region being looked at is the Atlantic Coastal Plain and a little of the Atlantic Piedmont Plateau. Below the wet marshy bits it's mostly sedimentary prelithified and lithified rock in the coastal plain area and a complex geology in the Piedmont area. The Piedmont area used to be the base of an ancient mountain range that's since eroded away while the Coastal Plain used to be entirely underwater at some period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_coastal_plain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_coastal_plain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(United_States) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(United_States)
ksenzee 9y ago
> this first permit is comparable to an athlete stretching before a race. We have not yet begun. Sounds to me like this first permit is more like an athlete shopping for running shoes. This is really preliminary.
tritium 9y ago
The address in this article (53 New York Avenue NE) appears to be slightly incorrect. https://www.google.com/maps/place/49+O+St+NE,+Washington,+DC+20024/ https://www.google.com/maps/place/49+O+St+NE,+Washington,+DC...

81 points by vinnyglennon 9y ago

kingbirdy 9y ago

It looks like this permit is only for a small location, would this be the station?

Nrbelex 9y ago
>Asked about the permit, issued Nov. 29, a Boring Company spokesman said Friday that “a New York Avenue location, if constructed, could become a station” in a broad network of such stops across the new system. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/dc-has-given-elon-musk-a-permit-to-do-a-little-digging-for-the-hyperloop/2018/02/16/ee8d2f08-1359-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html?utm_term=.2ae28b93aabf https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/dc-...
- lafar6502 9y ago
  What permit? Permit to do what? Does anyone have control over these guys, or is it just money talking? I don’t care about their junk in space, but here on Earth there are some forms of life that don’t appreciate such arrogance and would like to understand why government is in bed with Musk and who is going to benefit from that
  - etskinner 9y ago
    I think many people stand to benefit from a NYC-DC transport link, and the economies of those cities stand to benefit a lot too.
  - Jesus_Jones 9y ago
    geeze. people get permits to dig holes in the ground for private companies all the time, like say buildings? It's not that special.
    - lafar6502 9y ago
      Right, but here the goal is not to dig a hole in their parking. The goal is to go to bed with politicians to get approval and public funding for big private infrastructure, without asking the public at all
venning 9y ago
That's a few blocks from a Metro stop, but really a terrible place for any kind of real foot traffic. That's near a high-traffic intersection [1] that can be difficult to navigate by car and very slow to navigate by foot. It's also near a lot of new construction (like most of DC) geared mostly towards young, rich professionals (like most of new DC). [1] The intersection was changed a few years ago from insanely dangerous to safe but very indirect when trying to make certain transitions.
- bdamm 9y ago
  I thought The Boring Company was going after shuttles that carried cars with people inside, not just people. If indeed that is their plan then foot distance to a metro is not going to matter for them.

Nrbelex 9y ago

This headline is bordering on inaccurate. As described by the original Washington Post article: > The Boring Company team has received an early, and vague, building permit from the D.C. government that will allow some preparatory and excavation work at the fenced-off parking lot at 53 New York Avenue NE beside a McDonald’s and amid the construction cranes of Washington’s booming NoMa neighborhood.

ucaetano 9y ago

Translation: Boring Company gets permit to dig hole in a private parking lot.

osswid 9y ago

A previous genius industrialist - Isambard Kingdom Brunel - built an "atmospheric railway" in 1844. https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/apr/04/brunels-atmospheric-railway-history-technology- https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/apr/04/b...

krazydad 9y ago

Their work actually sounds pretty exciting to me.

bdamm 9y ago
That's the joke.
geezerjay 9y ago
> Their work actually sounds pretty exciting to me. Why? They are nothing more than a off-the-shelf boring machine that was never used and a marketing department dedicated to fabricate hype.
- BenjiWiebe 9y ago
  The reason I'm excited is because at one point SpaceX was all hype too. :)

criddell 9y ago

Is the ground around DC dry enough for a tunneling machine like Musk has? I've always thought of that part of the country as being very wet.

bane 9y ago
It is both wet and generally fine for tunneling. The D.C. metro (subway) is almost entirely underground within D.C. city limits (though it runs mostly above ground outside of the city) and basements and extensive underground parking garages are the norm (some going very deep). The region being looked at is the Atlantic Coastal Plain and a little of the Atlantic Piedmont Plateau. Below the wet marshy bits it's mostly sedimentary prelithified and lithified rock in the coastal plain area and a complex geology in the Piedmont area. The Piedmont area used to be the base of an ancient mountain range that's since eroded away while the Coastal Plain used to be entirely underwater at some period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_coastal_plain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_coastal_plain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(United_States) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(United_States)

ksenzee 9y ago

> this first permit is comparable to an athlete stretching before a race. We have not yet begun. Sounds to me like this first permit is more like an athlete shopping for running shoes. This is really preliminary.

tritium 9y ago

The address in this article (53 New York Avenue NE) appears to be slightly incorrect. https://www.google.com/maps/place/49+O+St+NE,+Washington,+DC+20024/ https://www.google.com/maps/place/49+O+St+NE,+Washington,+DC...