The Boring Company (TBC) is an American infrastructure and tunnel construction company founded by Elon Musk. Its current and proposed projects are designed for intercity (“loop”) migration systems. The company’s headquarters are located in Austin, Texas.
History
Elon Musk first announced The Boring Company in December 2016. As of February 2017, the company has begun digging a small test trench in the SpaceX office premises in Hawthorne. It was done secretly because no permission was required for construction at that time. Boring was originally owned by SpaceX established as a subsidiary. But in 2018 it was transformed into a fully independent company.
Vision
According to Musk, the company’s goal was to establish a network of tunnels, improve the speed of tunnels & reduce traffic congestion The company says it is implementing TBC’s new projects as a contemporary operation to reduce tunnel size, reuse soil material for tunnel construction and further technological improvements to reduce the cost of tunnel operations.
Inactive & Canceled Projects
1- Baltimore-Washington loops
In July 2017, Elon Musk announced plans to build a Hyperloop tunnel connecting Washington, DC and New York City. He initially stated that the project had “government approval”. But government officials denied the allegations. Elon Musk later clarified that there was no formal approval for the project. In March 2018, a route was announced between Washington, DC and the city of Baltimore, passing the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The tunnel used TBC J’s “loop” concept, which would carry passengers or vehicles on electric “skates”.
2- Chicago loop
In March 2018, Boring was selected in June 2018 to build a high-speed link from downtown Chicago to the expanding O’Hare Airport. Also, the project was to be submitted to the Chicago City Council on a contract basis. The construction was to be fully funded by The Boring Company. The tunnel system transports 16-passenger automatic electric cars. It can travel from Block 37 to the airport in 12 minutes, at speeds of 125 to 150 miles per hour. The loop is scheduled to exit every 30 seconds.
3- Los Angeles Dugout Loop
Named the “Dugout Loop” in Los Angeles. A proposal to build a 5.8 tunnel was discussed in August 2018. Plans were made to complete the tunnel from the Dodger Stadium from a location on Vermont Avenue. The project was a public-private partnership. The project was expected to take 14 months to complete. But by June 2021, the project was no longer operational and had even been removed from the TBC website.
4 – Las Vegas Convention Center Loop – Las Vegas, Nevada
The LVCC Loop System is a three-station transport system with a 1.7-mile tunnel. It was built using the Godot machine in approximately one year. The cost of the LVCC Loop was approximately $ 47 million. Two tunnels and three sites (two surfaces and one sub-surface) were created in the project.
LVCC Loop has reduced the 45-minute cross-campus walk time to approximately 2 minutes.
5 – R&D Tunnel
The R&D Tunnel in Hawthorne, California is used to test The Boring’s public transport systems, loops and hyperloops. The tunnel is about 1.14 miles long. The Hawthorn Test Tunnel, including the O’Leary Station, was completed in December 2018 for less than $10 million.
6 – Vegas loop
Vegas Loop will include LVCC Loop and any future service extensions including those to casinos along the Strip, McCarran International Airport, Allegiant Stadium, downtown Las Vegas, and eventually to Los Angeles. Vegas Loop will provide fast and convenient transportation to the Las Vegas community, its visitors, and beyond. On October 20, 2021, the Clark County Commissioners unanimously approved Vegas Loop, a 29-mile tunnel network connecting 51 stations throughout the resort corridor.
Machines
The first three machines used by The Boring Company were Godot, Line strom and pruforck.
Godot
This Godot machine was created by a Canadian company called Caterpiller. This Gadot machine was used by Boring for company testing.
Line-strom
The line-storm machine is a very new and different machine. In February 2019, Elon Musk estimated in a twitter message that the line-storm would remain active “for a month or more”.
Prufrock
This Prufrock machine is a machine designed by a completely lazy company. By the end of 2018, TBC completed the design of this prufrock machine. The Prufrock is named after “The Love Song of J. Alfred Proofrock” by TS Elliott. It was designed to be ‘launched’ from a downward angle, to be able to cross the tunnel and return to the exit surface, and assembly of another prufrock machine, the second Prufrock machine, is reported to have begun in August 2021.
