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Except that it would also be ridiculously expensive. If construction costs reduce in the future due to automation though, might be workable.
by pm90 8y ago
Except that it would also be ridiculously expensive. If construction costs reduce in the future due to automation though, might be workable.
- lgregg 8y agoIt depends where you are, construction costs vary. Sure, if you're building in NYC. They built a tunnel for 2.4 billion. You can build that same tunnel elsewhere for a fraction.
- wahern 8y agoTunneling costs will come down, almost certainly through automated tunneling. Not because of the demands of urban transit, but because suburbia is fundamentally not economically viable unless the cost of running utilities and paving roads drops dramatically. American society is too wedded to suburban culture to move away from it to any significant extent, so sheer necessity will drive technological innovation. It helps that the costs of suburbia are largely hidden, so either the technology emerges or America continues to descend into a paved-over hellscape. Like many things America will end up paying 10x to solve problems with sophisticated, overwrought technology that could have been solved through simple social and cultural shifts, but at least we'll get fancy new tools out it.
- eeZah7Ux 8y agoLe Corbusier proposed the very same idea and it's working very well in many asian cities. It's actually cheaper than alternatives and no, you don't need digging.